GPhone plans to be revealed on Monday

Google is set to announce its "big plans for wireless" on Monday, including more specifics on "alliances with various handset makers and cellphone operators."Sprint and T-Mobile are rumored to be the named as the initial partners. Verizon, however, has mysteriously disappeared from that list. What's more, the Journal is reporting that we won't be seeing these Google-powered phones until the middle of next year at the earliest.

As far as handset partners go,Taiwan's HTC as the most likely candidate.However, Wired's GADGET LAB points out this arrangement may be problematic, given HTC's close ties with Microsoft. Can the two companies share HTC and co-exist in the mobile ad space? Another question for Monday, apparently. Of course the other thing to pay attention to on Monday will be the actual business plans Google develops with carriers. If we're right about things, it could mean a variety of discounted (or maybe even free) plans compliments of a Google revenue share.

GPhone going to be released in a fortnight?

Google is apparently close to unveiling its phone platform within the next two weeks, but still has the considerable hurdle of convincing carriers to sign over some of the control of the phone itself.

While Google will provide many of the services which will come on the phone -- such as its search, Maps, YouTube, and Gmail services -- the platform on which those applications are built will be completely open, right down to the operating system itself. This is a dramatic shift from what is available currently. Most carriers and phone manufacturers lock most of the code down, making it relatively difficult to build new applications without either deals with the carriers or manufacturers themselves.


Only Microsoft offers anything close to what Google is going to do, through Windows Mobile. It took Apple some four months after it released the iPhone to finally agree to open up the device to third parties, and other manufacturers and carriers offer even more limited third-party support.

Forget iPhone, the Gphone(GooglePhone) is here!

Google, the nearly $13.5 billion search engine major, is believed to be a fortnight away from the worldwide launch of its much-awaited Google Phone (Gphone) and has started talks with service providers in India for an exclusive launch on one of their networks.

Talks are believed to be taking place with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, respectively India's first and third largest mobile telephony operators, and state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam.

Sources close to the development said a simultaneous launch across the US and Europe is expected, and announcements would be sent to media firms in India and other parts of the world. US regulatory approval, which is expected soon, is the only hurdle that Google is waiting to cross, they added. Google plans to invest $7-8 billion for its global telephony foray.

In India, it is also believed to be in talks with Indian providers to offer data and content and platforms including Instant Messaging (IM) and Search functions. However, these could not be confirmed.

A Google spokesperson said, "We don't comment on market rumour or speculation. However, Google is committed to providing users with access to the world's information, and mobile becomes more important to those efforts every day. We're collaborating with partners worldwide to bring Google search and applications to mobile users everywhere. However, we have nothing to announce at this time."

Reports of the Internet major getting into handset manufacturing as an answer to Apple's iPhone has been doing rounds in cyberspace and international media for some time. These reports suggest that Google has developed a prototype that will hit the markets in a year's time. The US-based company has neither confirmed nor denied these reports. The Wall Street Journal too had reported that Google had invested "hundreds of millions of dollars" in the project and was involved in discussions with US-based T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.

Globally, Google is likely to participate in the upcoming auction for 700 MHz spectrum for which it is prepared to spend up to $4.6 billion. The firm is also introducing ads to YouTube videos which could be replicated on mobile phones. Ironically, Google recently partnered Apple to produce services such as e-mail and maps for its iPhone handset. And Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said recently that more Google services for the iPhone would be rolled out.