Google's Android developer kit for mobile phones has been successfully installed on several hardware devices, a step toward turning it into a genuine mobile-phone platform.

The Android Software Developer Kit (SDK), first released in November, has been developed by Google and others as part of the Open Handset Alliance with the goal of spurring innovation in the mobile space. The platform, based on the Linux 2.6 kernel, will comprise an operating system, middleware stack, customisable user interface and applications.

Google released the preview version of Android without support for actual hardware - instead, developers were given a software emulator based on Qemu. However, running the software on actual hardware can give developers a more accurate idea of how their applications will run.

Read more: techworld.com 

Labels: Android, Google Phone, Gphone, hardware, mobile, phone

Google, apparently has taken substantial amount of floor space at the upcoming Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, leading some to speculate that the company might actually be ready to launch its Android based phones.

While there is certainly an outside chance of the Google Phone launch, the more realistic and plausible scenario will be Google showing off a few prototype handsets. HTC, is the only handset maker that has publicly said that a device will be available in late 2008.

Read more: gigaom.com 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, mobile, phone

The Open Handset Alliance, headed by Google, announced that it has released a developers' toolkit (SDK) for Android. And, to provide further incentive, the Android Developer Challenge was announced, which will hand out $10 million to the winning Android developers.

If it were up to Google, Inc., there would be an Android powering every handset in the world, and the search engine juggernaut is willing to put $10 million on the line to make it happen in what is dubbed the Android Developer Challenge. To that end, the Open Handset Alliance announced that it has released a developers' toolkit (SDK) for Android, the new mobile operating system, so coders could begin developing software for Android-powered phones of the future. And, to provide further incentive, the Android Developer Challenge was announced, which will hand out $10 million to the winning Android developers.

Full article: newsfactor.com 

Labels: Android, developers, Google Phone, Gphone, mobile, phone, prize

Google's dominance of the web will not translate to the mobile phone market, a senior executive at Symbian has said.

John Forsyth, vice president of strategy at Symbian, the platform that powers many of the world's phones, said Google lacked experience.

Google has formed an alliance with 33 firms to develop an open platform for mobile phones, called Android.

Meanwhile, the head of Nokia in the UK said the firm was in discussions with Google about using the platform.

Simon Ainslie, Nokia UK's managing director, said: "We are always open to discussion and debate on that. We were not ready to make any commitment to it or discuss it at the time."

"We are having ongoing discussions with Google."

Full article: news.bbc.co.uk 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, mobile, phone, Symbian

Google is pitching its vaunted Gphone to Verizon Wireless, but the odds are still against the search giant striking a major deal with the second largest phone company in the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported Tuesday evening that Google is in "serious discussions" with Verizon Wireless to put its mobile "GPhone" software on Verizon phones.

For months, people have been speculating about the rumored Google "GPhone." Most people believe that it's not a specific phone, but is more likely an operating system or software that integrates many of Google's mobile services, like Web search, Gmail, Youtube, and Google Maps, onto phones made by existing handset makers. But more than simply integrating Google services onto handsets, the new Google mobile OS is believed to be an open platform on which application developers would have free reign to develop a slew of new applications and services.

The WSJ said in an earlier article published Monday that Asian cell phone makers HTC and LG Electronics will be the first two handset makers to use the software.

Full article: news.com 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, mobile, phone, Verizon

Finnish firm Jaiku markets a social-networking service similar to Twitter.

Google Inc. continued its acquisition spree with the purchase of Jaiku Ltd., a Finnish company that offers a social-networking service similar to Twitter.

Jaiku describes the service as one that lets users share their "activity streams," which it defines as "a log of everyday things as they happen." An activity stream can include recommendations, details of events the user is attending, photos and questions. Users can post new items online, via instant message and on mobile phones using text message.

Full article: pcworld.com 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, Jaiku, mobile, phone, Twitter

Is Google about to produce the next iPhone? Find out here!

Google, the internet media giant, has had a large group of engineers working on a secret project for nearly two years now. Rumors had leaked that Google was planning to manufacture a next generation of cell phones, which some observers creatively dubbed the "GPhone." Now as a new report indicates Google's true intentions, it appears that the company has not only done a good job keeping the wraps on its secret project, but that the project is much more complex than expected.

Google has been working on developing a software platform for cell phones, which it hopes will create a new business sector. It begins with the phone operating system (OS).

Full article: dailytech.com 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, microsoft, mobile, phone

The Skinny: "GPhone" Is An Operating System Using Open-Source Software

Google wants a place in your pocket.

The search giant's ambitions for the cell phone market have been obvious - if not exactly clear - ever since it successfully lobbied the Federal Communications Commission this summer to impose rules keeping part of wireless spectrum open to any handset and software application in its coming auction.

This morning the New York Times attempts to take a peek into the Googleplex, where a team of developers has been working on the so-called "GPhone" for two years, to see just what game Google is planning to play on this newly leveled playing field.

Read more: cbsnews.com 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, phone, Software

Don't bet on it...

Google is unlikely to launch a 'Gphone' mobile device because it doesn't fit in with its business model, according to industry watchers.

The rumour mill went into overdrive after it was revealed Google had submitted a patent in the US for a mobile payment system - dubbed 'GPay'.

But Vincent Poulbere, principal analyst at Ovum, warned against making assumptions about a direct link between the two. "I do not see a direct relationship between mobile payment and the Google phone. For me there is no link between GPhone and GPay," he told silicon.com.

Read more: silicon.com 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, phone

The gPhone rumors, which I discussed in depth a few days ago, have gotten stronger and more credible over the last couple of days with complementary reports on two respected tech blogs that said they had details about Google’s wireless phone plans.

Engadget said Tuesday that Google is poised to announce a wireless phone operating system after the Sept. 3 Labor Day holiday. Citing “a number of trustworthy sources,” Engadget said that the team from Android, a company acquired by Google in 2005, has developed a Linux-based mobile OS that Google is shopping around to various handset makers. Ryan Block, author of the Engadget report, says that he doesn’t think that Google actually wants to make its own phone, but he doesn’t rule it out.

Full article: mercextra.com 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, mobile, phone

The pace of rumors and leaks around the fabled Google Phone is picking up, suggesting that Google is making a real push to launch something early next year and and is no longer to keep everyone quiet.

Yesterday Crunchgear got confirmation from a senior (and anonymous) HTC exec that they’ve created some twenty devices for Google to test and are shooting for a Q1 2008 launch.

Full article: techcrunch.com 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, phone

Google Inc has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its cell phone project and is courting U.S. and European mobile operators according to The Wall Street Journal.


Google has also developed prototype phones and talked over technical specifications with manufacturers including LG Electronics, but finally gone with Taiwan’s High Tech Computer (HTC) Corp to design a Linux software-based phone for launch in the first quarter of 2008.

Read more: gadgetspy.co.uk 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, Linux, phone

There was an old ad campaign that went something like, "It's not nice to fool with mother nature." And I believe the perpetrator of this crime was quickly zapped by lightening.

Google's rumored Google phone, which will offer consumers free cell phone service, subsidized by placing text or voice advertising on the phone, puts this saying in mind.

To most Americans, their cell phone is a personal device that they do not want messed with.

It is hard enough, especially for those of us who remember the old monopolistic days of Ma Bell, when phones just worked, to get used to lousy cell phone service, let alone listening to ads every time we dial.

Read more: infoworld.com 

Labels: ads, Google Phone, Gphone, phone

Google's mysterious poking around in the wireless communications space is spawning rumors of an advertising-supported smartphone carrying the Google brand. The rumors have been given some support, however, by a Wall Street Journal article that says the search and advertising giant is courting wireless service providers for the would-be device. For its part, Google is saying very little.

The persistent rumors surrounding a Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) "Gphone" have been stoked again, this time by a Wall Street Journal article that reports that Google is courting wireless operators to provide an ad-supported mobile phone service to Google-customized handsets.

The Journal article does not directly identify sources of this information, only that it's coming from "people familiar with the plans" and "who have been briefed on it."

Full article: technewsworld.com 

Labels: Google Phone, Gphone, mobile, phone