Google is reportedly working on a mobile handset to speed up the mobile ad distribution process. Rumors are flying that Google is getting ready to launch the ‘Gphone’, or at least the software and services needed for an open platform wireless phone to function. This morning the Wall Street Journal reported that a Gphone software unveiling will be coming soon.
What will the Gphone do for the average consumer? Maybe free cell phone service!
Same as the free search model applied to mobile service – receive ads in lieu of paying for airtime. If someone were to offer a free, ad-supported mobile option, Google would be among the most likely to succeed.
Extending their Adword service from the computer screen to the cell phone screen seems only natural. Google has already extended its ads from the web to print and radio ads, its mobile advertising offering has already been established, along with its search capabilities and GMail integration, among other applications.
Google is trying to loosen the grip wireless carriers have over the software and services consumers can access on cell phones. An almost impossible task since wireless carriers control distribution of phones to consumers through their retail stores. But Google may be up to the task.
There is much speculation that Google will bid in an upcoming FCC spectrum auction. Next year the FCC will auction licenses in the 700 mHz band. Originally used for analog TV and owned by a variety of broadcasters, the TV channels using this spectrum are going to go dark on Feb. 19, 2009.
The FCC has described the 700 MHz as beachfront property, and has talked up its broadband capabilities. About 60 MHz of the former UHF (TV) spectrum is going to be reclaimed by the U.S. government and will be reallocated for public safety and commercial broadband networks. Google has openly fought for the FCC to require the adoption of four types of “open” platforms as part of the auction:
- Open applications: consumers should be able to download and utilize any software applications, content, or services they desire;
- Open devices: consumers should be able to utilize their handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer;
- Open services: third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms; and
- Open networks: third parties (like Internet service providers) should be able to interconnect at any technically feasible point in a 700 MHz licensee’s wireless network.
Google is of course concerned about you and I; an open network would promote a spirit of openness, and could spur additional forms of competition from web-based entities, such as software applications providers, content providers, handset makers, and ISPs.
In their Official Blog Google says “The big winners” are consumers. “As choices increase, prices come down and more Americans have access to the Net”.
