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The Google Phone?
VE3OGG writes "There has been ample hype over the last several years that Apple's iPhone was just around the corner. (Though a product named iPhone was just recently released by Cisco / Linksys.) Well, while Apple fans continue to salivate at the thought of a phone powered by the company-of-cool, the index-everything-while-doing-no-evil company may be setting itself up to produce their own Google phone in partnership with Orange."
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So, an internet-enabled phone that isn't total rubbish at it? Sounds good to me.
I wonder exactly how much of the software Google will be writing, because as more mobiles become internet-capable it seems to me that making viruses for them can start to make sense. I don't think most mobile software is all that secure, but I'm thinking if Google has a stake in it, it will at least be secure *enough.*
I like basketball!!1!
Google doesn't like rumors to get out any more than they must. They don't want people to say, "Oh, Google's going to have HD TV running on fiber within the next two years" because that's probably not going to happen.
Is that possible? Could they do key word searches and then transmit adds relevant to my conversation to the screen? I use Gmail and they scan my email and for some reason that really doesn't bother me. But my phone calls? I mean, they're probably really just trying to create a really cool delivery platform for different Google mobile apps, and integrate cool location specific stuff. Right?
All kidding aside, it's going to be interesting to see what Google eventually does with all this stored information.
How much growth is left in the cell phone biz? Once everybody who needs or wants one, has one, I don't see the introduction of a new phone being that big a deal. I'm not going to switch my phone until the end of my two year contract, and even then I'll probably hold onto it for a while. And of course, everybody wonders how much growth is left in Google, but they keep raising the bar. I think the guy who said Google is going to mint millionaire brainiacs who will start their own companies had the most likely scenario for GDecline.
Since when is a corporation cool - since forever, that's when. It's called brand image. It is such a significant part of most purchasing decisions that companies will spend huge parts of their advertising budgets enhancing it. Indeed, most ads are selling a lifestyle aspiration, not functionality. i.e. 'drive a MyCarName because it's cool, not 'drive a MyCarName because it gets good gas milage'.
/.ers are far too Intelligent to fall for this sort of thing and always make purchasing decisions based on rational argement. And if you'll believe that....
We
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
I move that it be called the Gone. Which gives ample opportunity to display context-sensitive Gone-Ads. At least it would if I didn't have this dang restraining order...
One is a VOIP phone (released by Cisco/Linksys) ... the other is a cellphone/iPod hybrid ... I honestly think Apple could say that is enough of a differentiation for patent trademark disputes. The main thing to note is that the rumor mill is the one calling it the "iPhone" ... not Apple ... evnthough Apple owns the trademark internationally and owns the domain iPhone.org. Also, this pretty credible storyboard was published yesterday noting the name "iPhone".
iPhone Storyboard or Ad Design?
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
though I wonder why company and government officials always decline confirming or denying so called rumors
Well, among things, a company like Google is actually owned by its investors, and shares are publicly traded. The SEC gets very, very testy (as do litigious shareholders and their parasitic lawyers) when a publicly traded company does anything that can be construed as falsely painting a picture of business prospects that might impact the value of a share in the company.
In short, regulations and lawsuits have trained companies to opt for silence, rather than risk being called deceptive - even if they don't start the rumor they're not commenting on. And if someone who works there starts the rumor (or can be said to have leaked something), all sorts of insider-trading ugliness can get bandied about. You get what you reward, and you suppress what you punish.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
But then again, I think they do like rumors getting out, at least ones that are false, as it keeps their competition guessing, and may get them to sink money into areas Google isn't going to compete with them in. Disinformation can be mighty useful in the corporate world.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
I want deets on this new gPhone!!!
I hate all sigs, even this one.
Really, I'm fine with google taking over the world as long as someday they come out with a shipping technology. It will enable you to move 5000 G-units an hour.
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
People buy on emotion, and justify on fact.
Pre-purchase: "Drinking that beer will get me laid."
Post-purchase: "I like this beer because it has high alcohol content."
An ex-boss of mine used to tell me that even our (then-current) customers bought based on "how will this product help get me laid?" - and we weren't even selling a sexy product.
I'm running a pirated copy of Linux.
Earth Final Conflict global communicator (bottom of page) Obviously this is just the prop without the special effect, but with a flexible screen that rolled up into the handle, we could have decent size displays in devices that fit comfortably in a pocket.
Loose lips lose spit.
Why does it bother you that Google will be able to collect all your data? Technically, Microsoft is capable of collecting data from virtually all internet-connected desktop machines in the world, and you can't be sure that there aren't killswitches or other pleasant surprises in their software. Worse, I am positively sure that there are triggers in Windows and its companion software that can be used to collect your data, revoke your access to computer, format your drive - and they're there waiting for their hour. Google only has the information that you give to it willingly, Microsoft can have ALL of your data without prior notice. Unless you're a free software user, that is.
Prob. breaking an NDA, so posting anonymously. Over a year ago I participated in a focus group on cell phone usage. The premise was that Orange was looking to make the move to the US, and we were to evaluate their marketing plan. The session was pretty standard until they took out (presumaby simulated) pics of the phones showing tight integration with Google Maps, and Google chat. Quite frankly, it was really exciting -- particularly using location based services with graphical integration. All the standard stuff was bandied about, but because it was Google, it looked nicer. Orange was thinking of marketing cell phones w/o a contract, and charging for the phone -- or at least the focus group wanted to know what we thought of that option.
The collaboration between two of the most powerful brands in technology is seen as a potential catalyst...
Who the hell is Orange? OK, I looked them up -- they're a big company, and maybe they're known more outside the US, but that brand is hardly on the same level as Google when it comes to world-wide recognition.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
True, but there is the downside of customers or potential customers getting excited about false rumors. Most of the time products that actually come to fruition are no match for the fantastic rumors that fly wildly. Apple has this problem quite a bit.
You are all a bunch of idots.
I had several calls when I gave away a Powerbook 100, minus disk drive, on Craigslist, and only a few years ago even managed to sell the dot-matrix printer that came with my Mac 128 for $10 - so there are people out there who have room for this stuff in their house.
I won't waste good electricy on anything slower than a 500 mhz Pentium III myself, though. And I've kept the Mac 128, which is trotted out accasionally as a nightlight / digital clock.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
I better go trademarkthese names then eh?
iYack.
iChattyCathy.
iMultiMediaDevice.
iVoice.
iCell.
iCall.
iTalk.
iTunesTalk.
iTele.
iTelephone.
iAnnoyance.
iBrick.
iPea, which of course goes right along with iPod.
iFone, duh?
iExpensive.
They Live, We Sleep
I don't think Google is doing this for the purpose of enabling fancy feature X or getting its hands in TV/radio/whatever distribution.
The real killer is that right now the vast majority of Google's users are able to use Google's service thanks to the Microsoft monopoly providing said user with an OS and/or browser. If I were Google, (secret) priority #1 would be to sidestep Microsoft as soon as possible.
If Google can give people usable cell phone based interfaces to its services, then all Google has to worry about is providing quality services that people want to use, which they seem to be able to with little effort.
The only middleman then is the cell phone providers, which Google can sidestep by rolling out its own wireless network, probably similar to what Sanswire wants to do (or Google will buy Sanswire) with cheap blimps, then Google can have a way to sell ads to people 24/7 with a device that effectively costs Google $0 because people will be paying to make wireless VoIP calls using the same device.
This is all hypothetical of course, but its exactly what I would suggest if I worked at Google.
If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
They'll release it when they can get a cellphone chipset in quantity for less than their profit margin on iPods at the time (after the costs of their components have come down over the course of a product cycle). Then they decide that what they'll announce as the difference between iPod generations is that the new ones are incidentally unlocked GSM cell phones.
Alternatively, if they decide people want them enough, they do a generation where the storage difference between the $350 and $250 iPods is less, but the $350 one is a cell phone.
In any case, I bet that Apple will never release a device marketted as a cell phone, because people expect cell phones to be locked, and sold cheap by carriers, and Apple isn't going to want to play that game for a variety of reasons. Nobody's going to pay $350 for an Apple cell phone that plays music, but they'll buy a $350 iPod that makes phone calls, even though these are logically the same device at the same price.
Yes, as this cartoon illustrates.
I hope they call it the goophogle.
firestream.net
Do you really think they could get away with making a portable phone called an iPhone when someone else is making a portable phone called an iPhone and has the US trademark to do so? Apple Computer has been dogged for decades about how similar its name is to a record label, for crying out loud. Oh, and IANAL. Somehow I think you needed to say that too.
...Google is racing ahead.
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
Google madly searching for a way to generate revenue before their stockholders regain consciousness...
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
In the future, we will all have a giant physical copy of the letters G-o-o-g-l-e in our living rooms. They can be reconfigured for any purpose - as furniture, TV, games, sex toys, telephones, hula hoops, etc. That's what all those shipping containers are for.
... and then they built the supercollider.
So the best thing to do is start rumors about things you have no interest in whatsoever, to have no chance or intent of competing with your own hype.
So, Google Automotive-- what's the word?
Information wants to be free.
Entertainment wants to be paid.
You just want to be cheap.
when a publicly traded company does anything that can be construed as falsely painting a picture of business prospects that might impact the value of a share in the company.
Tell that to Microsoft
The part about the Google phone giving you geographic-specific results..reminds me of an article here on /. a while ago that talked about future cell phones and how they would tell you these kinds of things..I can't find the link but I find this interesting.
If history repeats itself, why can't we study the future?
Yeah, those quad xeons sure disappointed a ton of people, and Apple's share price action over the last five years is a real strong indicator of a general dissatisfaction with their hardware, software, engineering, resale value, etc... unh huh, right.
Were you the guy that greeted the rumor of an mp3 player from Cupertino with "Why, there's plenty of those, already?" I thought so... ha ha ha. Mmhmm, Microsoft has a much better track record with meeting/exceeding expectations, eh? And then there's Sony. Yeah, poor old disappointing Apple, death must be just around the corner.
And in each case the matter has been settled without a verdict or in Apple's favor (concerning Apple records)
Apple owns trademarks for the iPhone in a dozen countries - check here
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
This is how most people will talk in the year 2015:
" I was going to google my googled google, but then my boss's googley googler googled google google google."
How google is that?
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