Goo-Fone or Gphone – Phact or Phiction?
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A Google patent application describes a method of searching for information via mobile phone which is much faster than the current system. It was published on 1st February 2007. Google appears to be patenting a method of using more than one connection to return search results. For instance a user could see the first 5 results from one session and the second 5 results from a second session.
Japan is ahead of Europe by a whopping five years, even though operators in both regions introduced mobile Internet services at roughly the same time in the late 1990s. Forrester has found that 52% of Japanese users regularly surf the mobile Web, compared to only 10% of European users.
Dundee City Council selected T-Mobile as its mobile working partner to develop a robust mobile communications service it could trust to deliver productivity and efficiency gains on a low budget, since many of its employees were often out visiting local communities.
Goo-Fone? .. or should that be Gphone? It may not matter given what Google is said to have said. Google seems to be strongly denying the rumors that it will develop its own cell phone. Rumors have been circulating for months based on particular actions by Google, for example on some intriguing new hires. There might well be attractive economics if Google were to follow this route since clearly the Mobile Web is growing much more strongly than the regular Web.
Now Google has chosen to come out with a denial. Supposedly it will seek alliances with the established telcos. Given that different telcos often adopt a walled garden approach to their own particular offerings, this implies a multi-solution approach by Google. Google will also be accepting a smaller share of the profit pie than if it were in the driving seat. In some ways the strategy implied by the denial seems less attractive than the strategy they have now denied pursuing.
It also is somewhat unusual for a company to come out with a denial of actions rather than announcing news of actions. Why was it felt necessary to issue a denial? All in all the denial seems less credible than what is being denied. I personally think we’re more likely to be seeing a Goo-Fone or Gphone or whatever they decide to call it at some time in the not too distant future.
Related: Google joins Apple in race to launch mobiles in Europe
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