The GooglePhone Is REAL.
Everyone who thinks Google is going to develop a physical handset is dead wrong. Why? They already HAVE a GooglePhone. You have it in your pocket. I have it in my pocket. Every phone is a GooglePhone.
If you don’t know, Google announced Google Calendar Mobile today. You can point your phone’s browser to www.google.com/calendar/m and pull up a mobile-friendly version of your Google Calendar. At this point, you can’t edit anything, only view, but it’s still really handy. Come to think of it, let’s make a shortlist of the Google products you can get to on your mobile…
1. Froogle - www.froogle.com/m
2. Google - www.google.com/m
3. Gmail - www.gmail.com/m
4. G Reader - www.google.com/reader/m
5. iGoogle (formerly Personalised Home) - www.google.com/m
6. Google Voice Local Search - 1-800-GOOG-411
7. Google Maps Mobile - www.google.com/gmm
Fascinating. Why does this matter, you ask? Well, there’s 2 key things in common with all of these services:
1. They’re phone- and carrier-agnostic. Meaning they’ll work the same
on a Verizon phone, Sprint, Cingular, Nokia, Motorola, etc. Any phone
with web access can use these services.
2. They have a desktop counterpart (with the exception of #6)
So let’s see. I can do 90% of my information-gathering internet
browsing (thus excluding following links and "wandering") through
Google. I use iGoogle as my homepage (and have 3 tabs, to boot), Google
Reader and Gmail are the first 2 things my eyes see every single day. I
keep in contact with most people in my online life through Gtalk. This
is important because less than a year ago I had nothing but AIM, used
Yahoo! email, had HowardForums as my homepage, and used bookmarks to
check my favorite sites.
Now Google knows everything I do online, desktop or mobile. Up till
recently, mobile browsing data was non-existent for most, and
everyone’s mobile homepage was whatever the carrier’s portal was.
Carriers are pulling in ad revenue, as well as referral revenue and
ringtones. However, I’ve been using the mobile version of my iGoogle
personalised homepage lately, and haven’t been to Cingular’s MEdiaNet
in a LONG time. Through Google, I can now do pretty much anything on my
mobile that I would have done through Cingular’s MEdiaNet.
So how does this prove Google isn’t going to create a GooglePhone? They
don’t need to. They’ve already separated themselves entirely from the
worst part of the mobile industry - compatibility. If they built
hardware, they’d have to figure out GSM vs. CDMA, they’d have to sell
it to the carriers, and they’d have to worry about pricing, warranties,
blah blah blah. They’ve figured out that you don’t have to buy the cow
to get the milk.
The milk is you and me. Our habits and history, but most of all, our
eyeballs. Google Maps Mobile has ads now. And they’re steadily adding
GPS to it, with Windows Mobile’s version first, and recently
Blackberries. LBS on any phone in the world. Ads in search. And, since
your mobile phone has at least one identifier, the IMEI or ESN, they
can get even MORE targeted. If you’ve used Google Search on your mobile
repeatedly to look up pizza places, don’t be surprised if there’s a
pizza ad when you pull up Google Maps Mobile.
Think I’m wrong? Yahoo!’s doing the same thing, only with a different
approach. Look at how many phones Yahoo! To Go 2.0 is available on.
Anything from the original RAZR to the latest Nokia’s. Where’s
Microsoft? They’re bogged down with Windows Mobile. That’s why Yahoo!
and Google will beat Microsoft in the search/ad delivery arena. They’re
not limited in the mobile arena like Microsoft is.
What are your thoughts on it? Do you use any of the Google Mobile
services? If it was all packaged together like Yahoo! To Go, would you
download it? Would you suggest it to your mother? Does she already know
about it? Where do you see this going?
That’s an excellent perspective which I absolutely agree with.
I do believe that google has done a better job than yahoo or any other portal where mobile services are concerned.
The problem is that java apps will always be an inferior solution. I will take pop3 & syncml based solutions any day of the week so that i can fully utilize my phones capabilities.
Froogle doesn’t exist anymore (Google Product Search, I think - don’t know why they got rid of the brilliant name), nor does a mobile version it appears.
Check this out…
http://raymasky.blogspot.com/2007/05/geotagging-photos-on-n95-using-locr.html
You can thank me later
Thanks, Ray. I’ll be using that in Chicago for sure!
GrisGris, thanks for the headsup. Post edited.
Jay_Cee I somewhat agree, though with the N95 and Feature Pack 1, I’ve noticed that java handling within S60 is greatly improved.