The only thing holding back the launch of the first Android-powered phone, the HTC Dream, was approval from the Federal Communications Commission. That approval has now come through, and T-Mobile can launch the phone. The filing asks for a November 10 release date, but (as Matt Marshall at VentureBeat points out) T-Mobile could launch it earlier.

This means that Android will be on track to debut before the holiday shopping season. The device is expected to have a touch screen, WiFi, a “jogball” (like on a Blackberry), a full Web browser based on the same WebKit as Safari on the iPhone, and Google apps like Gmail, Maps, and YouTube. It should be fab.

Read more: techcrunch.com 

Labels: Android, FCC, HTC, phone

In a release from the FCC earlier this week, Google is confirmed as one of the 700MHz spectrum would-be bidders, together with mainstream telcos Verizon Wireless and AT&T. The list of interested parties - separated into those who have fully completed their applications and those who must still do so prior to the January 4th deadline - does not indicate which spectrum chunks each company is interested in, but Google (listed under ‘Google Airways Inc’) is in familiar company, with fellow Open Handset Alliance member Qualcomm also present on the roll-call.


Qualcomm currently runs the MediaFlo USAmobile TV network that both AT&T and Verizon Wireless offer to subscribers, with network capacity from sections of the 700MHz band Qualcomm acquired a number of years ago.

Read more: google-phone.com 

Labels: FCC, spectrum, wireless

Conditions that Google wants the FCC to impose on eventual buyers of the 700MHz spectrum have generated much interest, but higher laws than any that might be imposed by the FCC - the laws of physics - might determine the future of its proposals.

Google's highly publicised and controversial letter to the FCC says that 'the only way to guarantee new broadband platforms is through open platforms." Google discuses four types of platforms that it says "should be mandated for commercial spectrum": open applications, open devices, open services, and open networks.

Under its open networks proposal, ISPs would be able to interconnect their own network facilities with the last-mile towers of the wireless providers. The ISPs then would purchase or lease discrete blocks of network capacity and provide a competing retail service.

Full story: itwire.com.au 

Labels: broadband, FCC, Network, spectrum, wireless

As the FCC considers which rules will govern one of the last great spectrum auctions in February 2009, some of the most interesting proposals are coming from startups and companies outside the wireless business. The latest suggestion comes from Google, which thinks the FCC should adopt an auction process much like the one it uses to sell advertising via its AdWords. That way winning bidders who end up not using as much spectrum as they pay for could reaction it to other companies. That would certainly make for a more efficient use of the spectrum.

Full story: blogs.business2.com 

Labels: ADWords, auctions, companies, FCC, wireless