“There are two gPhones slated for release with the first coming in September and the second probably not appearing until after Christmas,” Robert X. Cringely reports for PBS. “Given that the first is the high-end model and the second is cheaper, Google will probably expect to make as much money as possible on the higher-margin units at Christmas before revealing the budget model even exists. How Apple-like, eh?”
Cringely reports, “Both will include WiFi, which makes me wonder if a VoIP client will be there, too. The high-end phone will look somewhat like a Blackberry Pearl, but the screen flips up and there is a keyboard for texting. No word on pricing for the high-end phone, but the second model is intended to be less than $100 — AFTER Christmas.”
“The actual manufacturer of these gPhones will be Samsung (rumors to this point had indicated HTC, so this is a change) and Google is still talking with both T-Mobile and Verizon as potential carriers (rumors also said Verizon had passed — not). That means there are both GSM and W-CDMA versions in the works. Given AT&T’s success with the iPhone I can’t imagine Verizon will let the gPhone pass, but it will be interesting to see if Google will be able go with a nonexclusive deal and get both U.S. carriers,” Cringely reports. “Nah.A”
Much more in the full article, including discussion of the possibility that Microsoft doesn’t really want to buy Yahoo at all, here.
“Having created a phone, it’s a lot harder than it looks. We’ll see how good [Google’s] software is and we’ll see how consumers like it and how quickly it is adopted. I actually think Google has achieved their goal [of not getting locked out of the mobile phone world] without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them. It’s just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners.” – Apple CEO Steve Jobs, The New York Times, January 15, 2008
The blogpost was mostly about MS and Yahoo, the gPhone was just a throwaway item due to the Mobile conference in Barcelona. I think it’s all hogwash. Google is not THAT stupid. It’s releasing the OHA SDK, why would it compete with the companies it means to court. It knows that being like MS is dumb.
“I actually think Google has achieved their goal [of not getting locked out of the mobile phone world] without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them. It’s just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners.”
Right. They’d be better off just working with Apple and one or two other manufacturers.
Cringely’s predictions have proved to be so full of shit that I wonder why anyone still listens to him. Wait, he is on PBS, so no one listens to him. My mistake.
> Google will probably expect to make as much money as possible on the higher-margin units at Christmas before revealing the budget model even exists. How Apple-like, eh?”
Yeah, except Apple didn’t do that… At least not with iPhone. Not yet.
C’mon people! Have an open mind!! Its a platform, not a phone. I’ll bet dimes to dollars that the iPhone becomes ‘Android Compatable’; and open to all the Apps made for it as it becomes popular in the marketplace and is supported by lots of content. That quote above is from Jan 2007, hardly relevant now.
“Right. They’d be better off just working with Apple and one or two other manufacturers.”
Yes, because Apple is such an open and helpful partner with the iBrickNoAppNoFlashPhone.
Ha Ha Ha…
You just lost any shred of credibility you might have had.
1) Everyone (except for you, it seems) knows that the 3rd party iPhone hacks were made possible due to security flaws. It is Apple’s RESPONSIBILITY to fix that.
2) Everyone (except for you, it seems) knows that Apple is releasing an SDK for the iPhone.
Care to try again?
@ Ha Ha Ha:
1. In most cases, bricked iPhones are the fault of the consumer. The terms of the iPhone were very clear from day 1. If a consumer wasn’t happy with those terms, they shouldn’t have bought an iPhone.
2. The SDK will (hopefully) be out by the end of the month. Then the phone will be open.
3. Flash will hopefully come with the SDK.
“Google will probably expect to make as much money as possible on the higher-margin units at Christmas before revealing the budget model even exists. How Apple-like, eh?”
A lot of companies follow this strategy. It’s just that no one cares to notice the other companies while the rest of the world slathers over every Apple announcement.
I think the hype that Google will sell a physical gPhone is all a lot of talk by wind bags that have all said the same things before. Prior to Google releasing the Android Software. A physical gPhone isn’t Google, it’s not in their culture or it’s market. Android is Google’s in to the cell phone ad market. Making and selling a physical product even if the product is designed and made by someone else under contract is not something Google will do.
Google is a company that wouldn’t Google Brand a product that it didn’t believe in, the employees at Google are iPhone nuts.
My wife and I have bet on Goggle selling a “Goggle” branded cell phone in 2008. She has, “they will”, I have, “they won’t”.
I only bet on sure things, Sergey, Larry and Eric have all said that Google is not going to sell a cell phone. They are all iPhone users too.
There is no Robert X. Cringely: His name is Marc Stephens and he’s wrong 98% of the time.
“a keyboard for texting,” so 20th century.
Why do people have to constantly beat on Cringely so much. So his real name isn’t Robert X. Cringely – so what. Its not a secret and he makes no effort to hide that fact. He’s entertaining and somewhat insightful, even if he’s not 100% accurate. I don’t think he professes to be a soothsayer or Techradamus. He’s an entertaining journalist.
Come on all, everyone knows Google’s UI will be simple and no where near the spit/polish of Apple’s. I don’t think that’s where Google is going on this. I believe people that go for a gPhone are people that can’t afford $300 up front for an iPhone and are prepared to view advertising on their phones to help subsidize costs. I believe the target audience is mainly Windows Mobile and Linux based cell phones. The interesting thing here is that Google makes money off of iPhone users and therefore is very happy in that arena. On the flip side, they will allow Google Widgets on the gPhone as well as their online functional Google Office apps.
I’d love Apple/Google/BlackBerry to turf MS out of the cell market entirely!
“C’mon people! Have an open mind!! Its a platform, not a phone. I’ll bet dimes to dollars that the iPhone becomes ‘Android Compatable’; and open to all the Apps made for it as it becomes popular in the marketplace and is supported by lots of content.”
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@ derelict,
You are a genius for saying that. You just got it all right. Eric Schmidt is not sitting on Apple board for nothing.