Google-Branded Phone Coming Early Next Year?

[MacRumors]

TechCrunch reports that Google is preparing to launch its own Android-based phone in the very near future, likely bringing yet another device designed to compete head-to-head with Apple's iPhone.

Most of our sources have unconfirmed information, which we describe below. But there are a few things we have absolutely confirmed: Google is building their own branded phone that they’ll sell directly and through retailers. They were long planning to have the phone be available by the holidays, but it has now slipped to early 2010. The phone will be produced by a major phone manufacturer but will only have Google branding (Microsoft did the same thing with their first Zunes, which were built by Toshiba).

While Google reportedly played a major role in the design of the Motorola Droid that has gained significant publicity over the past month, the company's own phone would obviously provide it with even greater control over the final product.

There won’t be any negotiation or compromise over the phone’s design of features – Google is dictating every last piece of it. No splintering of the Android OS that makes some applications unusable. Like the iPhone for Apple, this phone will be Google’s pure vision of what a phone should be.

Other information about the new device remains unknown, although TechCrunch is betting based on what it has been able to piece together that the device will be manufactured by a Korean partner, most likely LG.

Rumors of a Google phone have been circulating since at least early 2007, but in response to a question raised about whether a "Gphone" was in the works at the launch of the Android platform later that year, Google CEO Eric Schmidt offered only that if there were to be one, it would run Android.

Article Link: Google-Branded Phone Coming Early Next Year?

 

[ChazUK]

I personally see a Google branded handset as just another Android based phone.

Unless it blew away the competition, being a Google phone wouldn't sway me from buying theirs over another well specced Android handset (be it the Motorola Milestone or Xperia X10, two handsets that have me interested).

 

[JonHimself]

Can't wait! The more phones that come out and take the spotlight from the iPhone (even it's temporary ie Pre) the more pressure it (hopefully) puts on Apple.

 

[darthraige]

Seriously, what's there to compete with anymore these days? Consumers pretty much base their decisions on the computer platform they are using.

For instance, am I born and raised stupid PC? I'll go with the Droid or whatever Google provides in future?

Is Mac in my blood? Yup. I'll take the iPhone please so it can sync up properly to my Mac.

 

[jimmyjoemccrow]

This shows Google have balls. They license their OS and then release hardware that will be competing with the people they licensed it to. Apple would never do this in a million years.

 

[mac jones]

Goophone

Google rumors

 

[nwcs]

It is inevitable. I wonder if it will be a free phone with ads all over? You know, ads on the case, a 10 second spot when receiving a call, a 20 second spot after dialing, text ads when you launch the browser, inserted ads in text messages, and don't forget harvesting all your data to target you with better ads. That way your gmail and google applications can give you better ads for your online application experience.

 

[ChazUK]

Seriously, what's there to compete with anymore these days? Consumers pretty much base their decisions on the computer platform they are using.

For instance, am I born and raised stupid PC? I'll go with the Droid or whatever Google provides in future?

Is Mac in my blood? Yup. I'll take the iPhone please so it can sync up properly to my Mac.

Where on earth did you get that idea?

Plenty of people I know that own a stupid PC (as you put it) and use the iPhone with Windows. If the iPhone was only limited to the Apple Mac audience then the iPhone sales wouldn't be as high as they are now.

Crazy!

 

[talkingfuture]

Should be interesting to see, I wonder how all the other Android handset makers will feel about it. Surely the official Google phone will be the goto for most people looking at phones with little inside knowledge.

 

[kolax]

Will it have the sex..? As in, as Steve Jobs said when the PowerBook was released. What makes the iPhone appealing is its looks - minimalistic. One button, silver bezel, all glass front. Shiny. That's sexy.

The G-Phone will need to be sexy and fashionable. I look at the G1 and it just looks a bit cheap. I look at Google Wave and although it is a beta, it lacks any sort of sexy GUI. It just looks kind of plain.

We'll see soon though..

 

[RonD69]

If this is true...

...Google will have a revenue stream that doesn't come from ads.

 

[mobi]

Well they have name recognition, but do they really want to open this can of worms?

 

[t0mat0]

That SnapDragon chip sure looks good. What's Apple's counter to this?
Also - will the future iPhone look like it has a small screen when comparing >4 inches vs 3.5?

 

[wonderbread57]

Google fails at good hardware design. The lip on the G1 was google's idea and they also contributed to the DROID design which many are not in love with. After using HTC's Sense UI I would not switch back to vanilla Android with or without excessive Google branding and control.

 

[macduke]

Seriously, what's there to compete with anymore these days? Consumers pretty much base their decisions on the computer platform they are using.

For instance, am I born and raised stupid PC? I'll go with the Droid or whatever Google provides in future?

Is Mac in my blood? Yup. I'll take the iPhone please so it can sync up properly to my Mac.

I was born and raised stupid pc, but I was able to make it out ok. Sometimes you just have to do something to better your own life. Instead of waiting like the others, hoping things would just get better for the condition we were in, I made a promise to myself to leave that place and never turn back. However, I was one of the lucky ones. As long as the human spirit is alive in this place, I am confident that there will be others, and they will one day tell their children what happened here on that bittersweet and fateful day. Rise up, all the ages, rise up! Your moment draws near; there can only be victory.

 

[bbplayer5]

This is awesome news

 

[ZedRuhlen]

This shows Google have balls. They license their OS and then release hardware that will be competing with the people they licensed it to. Apple would never do this in a million years.

No, it shows that Google has a different business strategy than Apple. Apple DID do that at one time. It was called the Mac Clones and it showed Apple that they are fully dependent on hardware sales.

Whereas Google is not in the least dependent on hardware sales.

 

[cloud 9]

This shows Google have (too much) money. They license their OS and then release hardware that will be competing with the people they licensed it to. Apple would never do this in a million years.

fixed

 

[Fastshutter]

Seriously, what's there to compete with anymore these days? Consumers pretty much base their decisions on the computer platform they are using.

For instance, am I born and raised stupid PC? I'll go with the Droid or whatever Google provides in future?

Is Mac in my blood? Yup. I'll take the iPhone please so it can sync up properly to my Mac.

The dumb is strong with you....

Where would the iPod be if it weren't for dumb PC users? How is my iPhone not syncing up properly on my Windows 7 PC?

 

[*LTD*]

Jon Gruber:

Filed Away for Future Claim Chowder: Mike Arrington Says Google Is Making Its Own Android Phone

Mike Arrington says Google is definitely making its own phone, coming in “early 2010”:

Way more interesting are the rumors we’ve been hearing for months about a pure Google-branded phone. Most of our sources have unconfirmed information, which we describe below. But there are a few things we have absolutely confirmed: Google is building their own branded phone that they’ll sell directly and through retailers. They were long planning to have the phone be available by the holidays, but it has now slipped to early 2010. The phone will be produced by a major phone manufacturer but will only have Google branding (Microsoft did the same thing with their first Zunes, which were built by Toshiba).

That puts Arrington on the same side as the almost-always-full-of-**** Scott Moritz. On the other side: Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering for Android at Google, who just two weeks ago said Google would not “compete with its customers” and “We’re not making hardware. We’re enabling other people to build hardware.”

So either Mike Arrington is totally wrong or Andy Rubin is a liar.

At the outset of Google’s Android initiative, I was a proponent of their creating a Google-branded, Google-designed reference handset. But at this point, after promising their hardware partners for 18 months that they wouldn’t do that, I don’t see how Google could do it without infuriating their partners and spoiling their trust. It’d be like what Microsoft did to its PlaysForSure partners when it introduced the Zune.

 

[Queso]

This shows Google have balls. They license their OS and then release hardware that will be competing with the people they licensed it to. Apple would never do this in a million years.

That's because Ballmer has declared Google as being in Microsoft's targets. All this stuff is peripheral to Google's core business, but every customer they win takes money out of Ballmer's war chest. Apple are only a blip on Google's radar. They're competing in the mass market sphere, and that means going after Redmond.

 

[PsyD4Me]

as long as its not on AT&T i'll give it a shot.

 

[donlphi]

Sure there are a lot of new phones coming out, but I think we're at a point where the Android phones are eating other Android phones. I don't think there are that many people unhappy with Apple's products.

Most of my music was purchased on CD's long ago, but I do have quite a bit of music that I purchased on the iTunes store. I even have a few movies that I purchased on iTunes. I have hundreds of apps in my iTunes library that aren't necessarily on my phone some are paid for, most are free, but I can add them and remove them at will. I can get updates for free (so far). I just don't see anything coming along that will break my "bond" with iTunes.

My point is, there are several things keeping me on iPhone. I like the way it feels in my hand. It is simple to use. It's extremely intuitive. It's a great mp3 player. The handset work very good (almost no problems). At this stage in the game, if you have had an iPhone for over 2 years, it would be tough to justify a switch unless it was absolutely amazing - like, "HOLY CRAP, IT DOES MY LAUNDRY TOO???". These new android phones will not change how Apple does things. They will continue in the direction they are moving, slowly evolving their products so there is always a seamless transition.

 

[Fastshutter]

Will it have the sex..? As in, as Steve Jobs said when the PowerBook was released. What makes the iPhone appealing is its looks - minimalistic. One button, silver bezel, all glass front. Shiny. That's sexy.

The G-Phone will need to be sexy and fashionable. I look at the G1 and it just looks a bit cheap. I look at Google Wave and although it is a beta, it lacks any sort of sexy GUI. It just looks kind of plain.

We'll see soon though..

Not everyone cares about the made up sex appeal of inanimate objects. I see more iPhones in crappy plastic cases than I do without, and another bunch with terrible sticker style screen protectors. So much for sex appeal when you hide it behind a cheap $30 dollar plastic case. It goes to show that people care more about preserving their hardware from damage than they do about sex appeal.

 

[timbck2]

CDMA, GSM, or both?

Which carriers will it be compatible with - any clues or guesses?