Rumor Has It: Google Might Be Building A Phone

Remember the good old days, when the Net was buzzing with speculation about whether Apple (AAPL) was going to enter the cell phone business? Good times. I miss them.

So let’s hear it for Google (GOOG), which is supposedly working on… a mobile phone.

In a research note yesterday, Marianne Wolk, an analyst at Susquehana Financial Group, took a look at the Google Phone rumors that have been floating around the Internet lately. Wolk notes that the rumor is that the company has a 100-person team working on a cell phone.

She theorizes that the company would likely partner with a hardware manufacturer, and focus on creating a device that would allow Internet access, mobile search, mobile video and mobile advertising. Imagine a device that would provide access to Google Maps, Gmail, Google Talk and documents stored in Google Docs and Spreadsheets.

Wolk notes that 73% of the smartphone market is controlled by Nokia’s (NOK) Symbian operating system, but that Microsoft (MSFT) Mobile “is gaining momentum.” She notes that neither Nokia nor Microsoft integrates Google search; and asserts that a Google phone “would likely make Google applications (e.g., maps) including the Google search box, a more prominent and accessible aspect of the phone.”

An obvious question is how the company would deal with the carriers; she says the company could be seen as a competitive threat, given its forays into free wi-fi, an opposing position on net neutrality and its acquisition of dark fiber. She also says the company could play a part in an upcoming FCC spectrum auction, which would potentially allow Google to bypass the existing carriers.

The good times are back.

Related: Hold the Phones: Google Charges into the Future

Comments

[Tom B:]

GOOG has come down against Net Neutrality????? Do you have a link?

2007 Mar 15 09:08 AM

[TS Campell:]

Google is taking an opposing POSITION to the existing carriers. The existing carriers are the ones who are NOT in favor of net neutrality.

2007 Mar 15 10:52 PM