Google Phone Revealed

One of the barriers to the adoption of Google PIM services is the difficulty of mobile synchronization with those services. Mobile sync has traditionally been the province of Outlook, forcing many a mobile phone user to either buy Microsoft’s expensive junk or buy an expensive fixed data plan. That’s why a Google phone with free ad-supported subscriptions can only be good news.

Google Inc. has developed a prototype cell phone that could reach markets within a year, and plans to offer consumers free subscriptions by bundling advertisements with its search engine, e-mail and Web browser software applications, according to a story published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.

Google is showing the prototype to cell phone manufacturers and network operators as it continues to hone the technical specifications that will allow the phone to offer a better mobile Web browsing experience than current products, the Journal said.

This good news can only mean more good news: the confirmation of the Google phone can only mean Google will probably push through with its bid to liberate the 700MHz spectrum despite the FCC meeting only half of Google’s conditions for spectrum openness.

I cannot overstate how disruptive an ad-supported SAAS phone could be. I cannot imagine how much money Google could make by putting AdSense in everyone’s pocket. As I type this, I am now bugging my local Google rep for a Gphone.