| Analysts clash over Google phone plans |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Friday, 23 March 2007 | |
  
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"I could see them put out a phone with VoIP and a good Web browser, then make money through search-based ads like they do now on desktops." Have you tried using a Wi-Fi phone? If the model I tested a few months ago is representative of the class, you need a really good wireless LAN if it is to be any use. As I moved away from the base station, data throughput quickly dropped to the point where calls broke up so badly that the phone was unusable. I'd need to be convinced that public Wi-Fi networks and hot spots could deliver the bandwidth needed to make VoIP handsets useful outside carefully engineered office or campus networks. The alternative theory is that Google is working on software that will run on mobile phones, notably Apple's iPhone. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster reckons Google is working with rather than against Apple, and is developing search and location applications that will run on the iPhone and other handsets. That makes a lot more sense to me. Google does software, not hardware. It also needs to catch up with Yahoo's recent advances in mobile local search and advertising (OneSearch). A third idea - which could come true independently of those above - is that Google could set up as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Essentially, this would involve the company buying air time in bulk and reselling it along with off-the-shelf cell phones to customers largely on the strength of its brand. Examples of MVNOs include Disney in the US and Virgin in Australia.{moscomment} |
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