Although there have been detailed rumours drifting about in the last few months concerning Google’s ‘GPhone’: a Google handset with ad supported wireless surfing, the New York Times reports today that this is simply not the case.
The online search giant is not developing a mobile to rival the iPhone but rather software that could give Windows Mobile a run for its money.
Google is expected to reveal this software before the year is out, with mobile handsets developed specifically to work with this hitting the market sometime next year.
The software is open source and as such will not be charging a licensing fee. This coupled with Google’s name behind it should erode Microsoft’s dominance on the mobile software market.
Although no official world has been made by the company Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt, has said in the past that the mobile phone market was a big growth opportunity for them.
This direction is nothing new for the company. Both 3 and Vodafone have Google’s mobile web search functionality and many mobile users can get Gmail and Gmail Chat on their handsets.
However, the Google software is likely to incorporate personalized advertising with these services to generate revenue for the company while providing an operating system to mobile operators without the licensing fee.
By Marie Boran
