Google Phone a "certainty"

[Pliablemoose]

According to a trusted source who's seen it with their own eyes, the Google Phone "is a certainty." And by "Google Phone" we don't simply mean another Android headset. We're talking about Google-branded hardware running a version of Android we haven't yet seen.
Over the next few weeks, Google Phones (most probably in early, prototype form) will flood the Mountain View campus. They'll don large LCDs while running a new version of Android—either Flan or the version of Android beyond it—which our source spotted running on Google's handset as well as a laptop. (Whatever the software was, it most certainly wasn't Chrome OS, we were assured.)
But maybe the most intriguing bit is what someone said to our source offhandedly, that the current Android, the we all know and love, is not the "real" Android. So what makes for a "real" version of Android?
Our best guess is an Android OS with Google Voice at its heart.

LOL, forgive me, but Ive always loved rumors...

If Google does release a phone that reduces the carrier to a tube, and not the be all and end all of your phone, it's going to be a game changer.

A phone with a data only connection tied to Google Voice, hmmmmmm...

http://gizmodo.com/5415169/leak-the-google-phone-is-a-certainty

 

[Demo24]

Also heard it rumored that this phone might be the upcoming HTC passion/dragon. Which could mean two different phones, one branded google and the other HTC for Verizon. Or simply one with google branding.

 

[her209]

A competitor to the iPod Touch is my guess from the other thread.

 

[Pliablemoose]

A competitor to the iPod Touch is my guess from the other thread.

That would be a stroke of marketing genius...

Apple's app store is nicely filled out because of the Touch, lots of cool cheap apps, and kids own Touches that are a hell of a lot cheaper than an iPhone with a $70+/month cell bill...

Another bit of info is that somehow Google has the right to sell data over Sprint's network somehow or other...

 

[Slick5150]

It'll have a 3G radio in it though, not just WIFI. I can't imagine Google wanting to limit something like that to hotspots. I'd assume (if ANY of this is true that is) that they'll find a carrier to partner with that will allow them to provide data only service to the phone and Google will run the backend of the the entire operation (voice, content, etc..).

 

[erwos]

It'll have a 3G radio in it though, not just WIFI. I can't imagine Google wanting to limit something like that to hotspots. I'd assume (if ANY of this is true that is) that they'll find a carrier to partner with that will allow them to provide data only service to the phone and Google will run the backend of the the entire operation (voice, content, etc..).

Run their own MVNO, in other words. It's certainly a possibility. However, there are a whole lot of regulatory hurdles that Google would probably fall under if they did that, so I'm not so sure they'll actually carry through on it. GV already has issues vis a vis the FCC with not allowing certain "expensive" calls. Becoming a for-real cell phone provider would probably tip the scale in that regard.

 

[Muadib]

Must see where this goes....