Slashdot Mirror
Google Shows Off Ad-Supported Cell Phone
taoman1 writes "Today Google showed off a ad-supported cellphone that the company plans to offer for free to interested parties. The product could reach the marketplace within a year, and will offer Google search, email, and a web browser. 'The move would echo another recent product launched by a phone industry outsider, Apple Inc.'s iPhone. But Google's product would draw its revenue from a sharply different source, relying on commercial advertising dollars instead of the sticker price of at least US$499 for an iPhone and $60 per month for the AT&T Inc. service plan. Negotiating the fairest way to split those advertising revenues with service providers could be a big hurdle for Google, one analyst said. Another problem is the potential that consumers could be scared off by the prospect of listening to advertisements before being able to make phone calls, said Jeff Kagan, a wireless and telecommunications industry analyst in Atlanta.'"
Who cares what model they are throwing out there. The only thing Slashdotters should be focusing on is the same old question : can it run Linux? Secondary only to the most important question is the next reflexive question : Will it Doom? Why do you care about ad-supported vs. not? Don't you think that within days or hours of the phone becoming publicly available, someone will write a hack to make the ads disappear, or fall into a dev/null hole? Is anyone really worried about Google having all of our secrets? If that's your greatest concern, pack up and live in a cave, if you aren't already doing so.