The Plot Thickens Around The Google Phone

The Google phone is all over the Internet, thanks to a fresh wave of new leaks and speculations. It looks like the Google phone is ‘very real’ and it is being developed by Google as you read this. This news, brought to us by the good folks at TechCrunch, has created quite a sensation everywhere. So lets take a stock of what’s going on and see where the rumors stand.

According to the report published by Arrington, Google has been in the process of making a smartphone that follows the company’s directions to the T. That basically means they have a handset manufacturer who is working with them and following their specifications. In fact, the latest buzzword there is probably ‘Google Says’. So what does Google say?

That is something we don’t know yet but we do know that this new phone is not going to compromise on anything at all. It is being made to deliver what Google thinks a modern smartphone should be like. So this is not just a Google Experience phone but the true Android vision that Google has. It is meant to show their customers exactly what Google means by a smartphone.

But therein lies a problem. Google is not supposed to make an Android phone. They have too many partner companies who are making their own Android phones. Google’s handset would compete with theirs and that is not how you maintain a healthy relationship. So how do you maintain it and still get what you want?

Arrington has an idea. He suggests that the device will not be a true phone but merely a VoIP device. That way, it will get to have everything awesome that Android has to offer and yet will not compete with the offerings from their partner companies. If they are really making such device, why not just make a tablet? I am sure they see the vast potential in that. What is the use of giving someone a phone shaped MID that has VoIP instead of GSM or CDMA?

May be this is Google’s idea of the future – everything based on the Internet. It does tie in with what Google has to say about practically everything that involves technology and communication of some sort – move it online! Case in point – the Google Chrome OS. It takes your standard Linux OS and turns it into a mere client for all sorts of cloud services. As a result, you get to forget about backing up, maintaining, cleaning and generally thinking about how to get it to work and stay working.

However, the viability of such device depends greatly on one thing. This is that one thing that Google cannot move online – the very means to get online! You have many other carriers all over the world who have the fasted 3G network just like AT&T does and also the spottiest coverage, against just like AT&T does! And worst of all, they may be the best carrier in some countries! What use will be the phone then? We are still far away from a truly global coverage on mobile data networks, especially in countries that are no fully developed.

However, if Google chooses to work with an existing partner who agrees to play ‘Google Says’ – will it harm them all that much? We already have Google Experience phones. So now we can have the Über Google Experience phone. In any case, Google has at least realized the age old truth – if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. Dear old Steve knew that decades ago and now look where he is. Google has done things their own way so far (Search, Ads, Mail, Wave, etc.) and that has led to exponential growth. So why stop now? They have done it with the Chrome OS, where they will be strictly controlling what hardware it is running on. And I am sure they have been disappointed with some of the recent Android phones. So it makes sense logically to make their own version of the Android phone. Wouldn’t you agree?

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