Recently, perhaps in a reaction to the iPhone, buzz started to spread that Google was also working on a mobile phone. Many different blogs showed pictures that were leaked to the press. Of course Google’s Business Model is all about generating traffic, and more important offering adds to this traffic. The PC Internet market is pretty covered… and where to find a new source for traffic… the mobile phone!
Let’s start with a small rectification on the buzz: the is not going to be a Google Phone, but a Google Mobile Phone Operating System called Android.
Since a couple of years the so-called smart phone is becoming increasingly popular. HTC has set the standard with their Windows Mobile operated phones. Companies like Nokia are also trying to get a piece of the pie with their Symbian operating system based phone, such as the E-series from Nokia.
So the market is quite mature so why would we consumers go for this latest gadget by Google?
First it will probably be the must have gadget for 2008 (launching Google Android enabled phones in Europe probably mid 2008). Second, the thing Google is great at, and what we users like, is that the company is able to integrate the whole lot into a new experience. And the best thing is that with running Google Android as an operating system on your mobile, when you need an additional tool, this tool will available free of charge. Google Android is open source. The software development kit is free of charge. And at the moment you read this someone somewhere is already building the killer app you want on your mobile. Google has reserved 10 million dollars, in chunks varying in amount from 25,000 till 275,000 for people that develop applications that are picked up by their panels of experts. Doing so will stimulate to formation of a community, and boost innovation.
[pro-player]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4m73NXn7hY[/pro-player]
