Recently the internet has been buzzing about the rumored Google Phone. I almost wish I could say that this was just not true because why would Google try to compete with Apple in consumer electronics. Apple of course just got into the Cell phone business but has made quite the splash and I would have to guess that if Google does come out with a phone Apple would be one of the biggest competitors. What is strange about that is Google is all over the iPhone especially with the very prominent YouTube and Google Maps.
Google has never made a consumer electronics device they have always stuck to making software. All of the rumors have been pointing to HTC making the actual phone and Linux being the phones operating system with Google supplying the integration of all the popular Google apps, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and maybe even Google Talk. Most of the rumors also say that GPS will be integrated into the phone for Google maps. The rumors point towards Q1 of 2008 as the launch date.
Now that I have said my peace about how I don’t think that this is something that Google should be getting into I also want to say that it would still be cool. It will especially be cool if the rumors are true about it only being $100 (“is less about beating the iPhone and more about beating the $100 Laptop”-Rizzn), I could buy one for my girlfriend at that price and get her off that god awful Razr of hers. One has to wonder however how the heck they plan on getting the price down so freaking low, most would guess that they would be serving ads on the phone but how would they do that without being obtrusive in any way.
Maybe if they had a small text ad at the top of the screen near the clock or something it wouldn’t be too bad or maybe a few words at the bottom of the phones wallpaper but at the same time I would wonder exactly what information they are using to target those ads to me, remember Google is all about contextual advertising. Would the ads that are served to me depend on where I am geographically such as local advertising or would they be similar to the online ads, the phone is of course hooked up to a data network meaning I can view web pages.
These are all questions that probably won’t be answered for a while but they are all things that need to be answered. Let’s all hope that this is going to be the best thing since sliced bread but I would guess that it won’t be.