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Google in your pocket
16-12-2009
by Ralph Averbuch
Google could be your constant companion with the rumoured launch of a branded handset.
There have been sightings of what some are claiming will be Google's first direct foray into the smartphone market. According to blog and Twitter chatter the device appears to be a customised handset built by HTC, running Android 2.1 and with powerful voice control features. The rumour is that Google will sell this device direct and SIM free in the New Year. Perhaps. For those asking why a search engine would want its own branded hardware, a similar question could have been put to Apple a few years ago. Who would have thought that Apple, a maker of Mac computers, would launch a mobile phone? As ever it's that over-used term 'convergence'. In directly branding an Android handset it can be used as a flagship for a mobile internet experience mediated through Google, setting trends it hopes other handset manufacturers will follow. Unlike Apple, Google seems to be taking the view that the more makers that come on board and adopt the open Android platform the better. It now seems that quite a few are wholeheartedly backing the mobile OS with Motorola arguably launching one of the best Android devices to date in the form of the Droid (Milestone in UK/Ireland). However, Google also diverges from Apple in being agnostic about who uses its mobile software. With many manufacturers on board Google must be hoping that people upgrading to a new device will soon be spoilt for choice for one of the new Android phones, each with loads of dynamic links to Google services... of course. It will be very interesting to see how Nokia, RIM and other mobile makers with their own OSs will react. For its part, HTC, which used to exclusively make phones for the networks to sell under their own brands, seems to have adopted a strategy of hedging its bets by backing both Windows Mobile and Google's new Android. Here's betting that one of these OSs is going to lose market share to the other in 2010. No prizes for guessing which.
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