GigaOM » Gphone

Santa Brought Googlers Unlocked G-1 Phones

Om Malik — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:27:17 +0000

Whether the (unofficial) Google Phone, a.k.a. the T-Mobile G-1, is going to set sales records or not, remains to be seen. But Google is doing its part. My source says that on Friday, the Mountain View, Calif.-based search and online advertising company gave away a special unlocked version of the Android-powered G-1 device (with an Android logo etched on its back) to its employees. It’s nice for more people to get familiar with a device that represents a big part of the company’s future. In related news, there has been some talk about a new G-2 version of the device. (Related Post: What I Love & Hate About T-Mobile G-1.)

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Is Gphone For Real? Or Not?

Om Malik — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:45:43 +0000

Updated, see last paragraph: For a long time there were quite a few rumors about Google making a Gphone, its own hardware device. In the end it came out with Android, a software platform that it is promoting in partnership with 50 odd companies. The platform is still under development, so to speak, as Mountain View-based search company works with partners to iron out the kinks. As we reported earlier, it has hit some speed bumps.

Android, however, shifted attention away from the possibility of Google making its own hardware. Looks like that plan to make Google-branded phone hasn’t been dropped entirely, according to The Hollywood Reporter. One of their reporters is attending Allen & Company’s Sun Valley Retreat for media barons and he attended an impromptu press conference held by Google co-founders Larry Page & Sergey Brin along with CEO Eric Schmidt.

The trio of Google execs also used the opportunity to talk about the inroads the company is making with its own branded mobile phone as a replacement for the iPhone, as well as the Chinese market and how they’re treated there — and even Google’s inhouse educational programs and the salaries and potential of teachers.

The report, I admit is awkwardly worded but I wonder if any of the other reporters actually picked up more details from the tattling trio. It is not clear from the report if all the talk is about Android or if they actually mean a GPhone.The Google-branded handset is a bit like the Abdominal Abominable Snowman – much talked about but rarely seen. I emailed the press hotline and will wait for some clarifications.

Update #1: Michael Arrington says that San Francisco-based The Ammunition Group might be designing the new phone.

Update#2: Peter Kafka checked with some reporters in attendance and found out that there was no specific talk of a handset.

larry: we have android phones obvioulsy. I know that there’s a hypothetical google phone
eric: they’ll call it the google phone no matter what you call it. we’re just going to have to deal with this

Google, still hasn’t replied to our request – it is the weekend after all.

Photo courtesy of our mates at Gizmodo via Googlified.

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LiMo (Linux for Mobiles) is Ready to Go Prime Time

Om Malik — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:30:23 +0000

[qi:83] Now that the Google Phone platform has been unveiled, one thing is abundantly clear: Happy days are around the corner for Mobile Linux.

As we have already reported, a special version of the Linux operating system forms the underpinning of Google Mobile OS, which will run the Google (GOOG) devices expected to hit the market sometime next year. That isn’t the only Mobile Linux OS flavor, however; over the next few months a cornucopia of devices powered by Mobile Linux are going to come to market.

The Google Phone
ABI Research predicts that Mobile Linux will be the fastest growing smartphone OS over the next five years and that Linux-based smartphones will account for about 31 percent of such devices by 2012. Smartphone shipments during this period are expected to total 331 million, according to the market research firm. The impetus for such rosy forecasts for Mobile Linux comes from the carriers, who are looking to standardize on three platforms: Symbian, Windows Mobile and Mobile Linux. Who’s Afraid Of Apple & Google? Not Symbian
We have been following the Mobile Linux market closely, writing about Motorola’s (MOT) efforts in China, OpenMoko, andTrolltech and its Qtopia platform. In a similar vein, we believe the Mobile Linux efforts of the LiMo Foundation will provide a major boost to the fledgling mobile operating system.

LiMo is an independent, not-for-profit entity formed back in January by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo (DCM), Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone (VOD). LiMo is developing a Linux-based software platform for mobile devices that has the blessing of two large carriers — Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo — and top-tier mobile handset makers such as Motorola, Samsung, LG, as well as several Japanese manufacturers. Motorola and Samsung kicked off the project by contributing to it their Mobile Linux-related intellectual property.

“We expect the first LiMo handset to come to the market in the first quarter of 2008, perhaps sooner,” Morgan Gillis, the head of LiMo, told me in a casual conversation last week. When I argued that the previous consortium efforts in the mobile industry haven’t been that successful, Gillis pointed out that the platform is not a technical standard, but rather a common OS platform that is being foisted upon the handset makers by carriers. “The value proposition here is that if you are a handset maker, then you get an entire software stack, and it meets the specs of major operators,” he said.

Vodafone, one of the largest mobile phone companies in the world, is pushing particularly hard for standardization, primarily because the company is interested in deploying applications quickly without having to test them on different handsets, a slow and laborious process. SK Telecom and Orange are also looking to follow the same strategy. The standardized platform strategy was first used by NTT DoCoMo in 2002, and it allowed the Japanese giant to roll out apps in a precise manner at a rapid clip.

Handset makers themselves are interested in taking the cost of maintaining different operating systems out of the equation. The reason, Gillis explained, is Apple (AAPL) iPhone. “There is general recognition that the value is now in the user experience, not the OS. Apple has demonstrated that with its device,” he said. “Handset makers now have to invest in the UI, not the underlying technology.”

5 ways iPhone will change the wireless biz
Google, with its smartphone, will further change the user experience — and that is the point. Google’s mobile efforts are focused on interjecting itself between the carrier and the cell phone user and making money off mobile advertising. This model puts the search giant in conflict with the carriers, who are giving mobile advertising and other mobile services lustful glances. LiMo-based phones could help carriers at the expense of the Google Phone, but all that jockeying will come later. Meanwhile, let’s sit back and watch Mobile Linux have its day in the sun.

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Google Launches Mobile Phone Platform, Android: What it Means, What Experts Think

Om Malik — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:04:34 +0000

[qi:004] Updated post press conference, read My Take #2: Google (GOOG) has just announced its much talked about Google mobile phone platform, Android, and has announced a large list of partners who are working with the company. The company said it’s worked with T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm (QCOM), Motorola (MOT) and others on the development of Android through the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders.

Andy Rubin, who spearheaded the project, writes on the Google blog:

It’s important to recognize that the Open Handset Alliance and Android have the potential to be major changes from the status quo — one which will take patience and much investment by the various players before you’ll see the first benefits. But we feel the potential gains for mobile customers around the world are worth the effort.

The first handsets are likely to be available in the second half of 2008, the company said. Other partners in the alliance include Sprint Nextel (S), Telecom Italia, NTT DoCoMo, Broadcom (BRCM), and a slew of other technology companies.

What is Android? A fully integrated mobile “software stack” that consists of an operating system, middleware, user-friendly interface and applications. It will be made available under one of the most progressive, developer-friendly open-source licenses, which gives mobile operators and device manufacturers significant freedom and flexibility to design products. Next week, the Alliance will release an early access software development kit to provide developers with the tools necessary to create innovative and compelling applications for the platform.

Who is missing? Quite a few large carriers, including Vodafone (VOD), Orange, SK Telecom, AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ). Nokia (NOK), ~~Samsung~~, LG and Sony Ericsson are among the handset makers not part of this alliance.

My Take: This is one massive PR move, with nothing to show for it right now, and it seems like there are other unknown reasons (Facebook ad platform launch perhaps) for the motivation here. No phones till second half of 2008 — in our ADD culture that is a lifetime. The partners — with the exception of HTC and T-Mobile — are companies who are, in cricketing parlance, on the backfoot. Motorola, for instance is not exactly a bastion of handset excellence. Sprint — we know how well they are doing.

MyTake #2: Following the press call, I actually have more questions than answers. They completely dodged my question about how does it reconcile with other mobile linux efforts which are backed by none other than partners like Motorola. Andy Rubin replied that all the software is available for the developers in a week, which is non-answer if there is any. Funny – no phones till second half of 2008 and they want developers to shift their attention from iPhone, Symbian, other Mobile Linux and Microsoft Windows Mobile. Even more convinced that this is a PR move. Not clear how this helps Google from a fiscal sense and its business implications for the company. Oh well, time to hound their press department.

What Others Say:

Chetan Sharma of Chetan Sharma Consulting: Google definitely assembled an impressive list of partners for this initiative. On a fundamental level, it still remains to be seen if this move is going to be transform the industry. Of course, everyone wants to be seen supporting openness, proof will be in the implementation and the business models that support this vision, otherwise this is just yet another initiative.

The initiative does help lower the cost of the handset due to cheap licenses for the stack and if this proves successful, some device manufacturers might give up their own efforts to minimize cost and focus more on hardware features that integrate well with Android. This is more an answer to Microsoft than to the carrier fragmentation Google has talked about. Is this going to be a successful Trojan horse strategy for Google remains to be seen.

Forrester Research wireless analyst Charles Golvin: The impact is broad across all players in the mobile environment, driving innovative developers to craft new applications that leverage both the mobile networks and the Internet, and helping to change the way consumers behave when on the go. Google is far from the only beneficiary, as competitors like Yahoo (YHOO) and even Microsoft (MSFT) stand to benefit should they embrace this approach; the impact will build slowly over time as initially the devices using this platform will form a very small percentage of the market.

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