gPhone unveiled - it's not a gPhone!

Last Modified: 06 Nov 2007
By: Ben King

Google has released the details of its first major push into the world of mobile phones.

The news will disappoint those who were expecting a shiny Google-branded device, but it is largely in line with the more sober leaks and speculation about what the company would deliver.

It's basically a free mobile phone software system.

The news will disappoint those who were expecting a shiny Google-branded device, but it is largely in line with the more sober leaks.

It will pitch the company in opposition to Microsoft, the UK's Symbian, and Canada's Research in Motion as makers of software for the flashier kind of mobile phone.

Google has signed up a roster of technology companies to support their new software effort, called the 'Open Handset Alliance'.

The alliance includes the world's number two and number three mobile phone makers, Samsung and Motorola.

The two biggest Japanese mobile networks, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, also signed up - possibly a significant move, as they have been the most successful in making the internet popular and profitable on a mobile phone.

This is all very exciting for the mobile phone industry, but there's not much for consumers to get excited about until the middle of next year, when they plan to release the first product using Google/Open Handset Alliance software.

There's still very little detail about exactly what the new phone will do. It should bring better versions of some of Google's best web services, like search, maps and YouTube video, to mobile phones.

But mobile analyst Martin Garner of Ovum criticised the announcement for having too much "vague utopian waffle".

"Too much was made of delivering 'inventions we don't even know about yet'. Google is a remarkable company and is the only one of the 34 partners that could possibly make this work.

"We will be looking in 12 months time for hard evidence that it is delivering on its promises," he said.