I love Apple products, but somehow feel more of a kinship with Google because they are edgy software people that love open source and free things.  In my minds eye, I can see exactly what Google is working towards with their Android mobile phone software, and the bidding they did on the open spectrum.  They see billions of dollars that will be made advertising on mobile devices.  They have access to billions of dollars in ad buyers.  It makes sense for them to actually own a line of phones, the software they run on, and the access to advertise on them.  If Google stays in their model, they will try and provide a phone that has lots of cool software applications built on the Android standards, and will price it for free, or at least a very low cost.  Their software will connect the plumbing between people, other important services like storage, and search and will adhere to all the eCommunity standards they are driving with Open Social.

So I was already to buy a 3G iPhone this summer, and then Google announce formally yesterday that there will be phones running the Android software coming out in the second half of this year.  They are coy about whether the phone will be a branded gPhone, or just running their applications.  Either way, now I feel I must hold onto the Treo a bit longer.  Google is a powerful force and maybe the only company that can compete with Microsoft and Apple on their own turf.  In the end, I cannot make myself sign a two year deal with AT&T for a $199 iPhone, before I see what the gPhone looks like. The mobile phone space is a very interesting case study in shifting dynamics.  Nokia bought the rest of Symbian yesterday as well.  Most people do not know that 60% of all mobile phones run the Symbian operating system today.  Nokia is going to take Symbian open source.  That will mean lots of cool applications will be written in the next few months I suppose.  Hold on to your hats on this market because the next five years are going to deliver a massive shake up in the players, and a huge step forward in functionality for the average Joe user…

Scott

Interesting site of the day: Styky.com -  Styky backs up and updates contacts on your mobile phonebook. Styky let’s you can access, manage, message, and update contacts from any phone, styky.com, and even Facebook, while Styky keeps everything in sync.  Apps like this will become more powerful as the phones they are on ramp up the computing power as well.

As the smoke clears from the Google announcement of the Android mobile phone standards, we have learned this so far… The technology market is applauding the concept of having software standards that allows developers to build software that can work across phones, and telecommunication vendors. This should result in an explosion of applications in much the same way these things have happened on the Facebook platform, and other areas where simple standards get set. They will not be coming out with the gPhone any time soon, but hold open that it could be done in the future. They have started discussions with AT&T this week to see if they can convince the giant to join the group. The interesting wild card that looms is that they have been working on putting the money together (est. $4.5 billion) to buy a piece of the wireless spectrum for the US Govt. This move could be signaling that they want to get into telecommunications on their own. We are all just guessing at the moment because Google has not made a statement as to what they would do with it. My take is this… Google is a VERY smart company that has really learned how to monetize “free” usage covered by advertising. Whatever they are planning will involve a radical change in the current cell phone model. I am sure we will not have to wait long for the answer.

Google is going into overdrive these days. Set aside the gPhone rumors for a second, and let’s deal with the announce OpenSocial standards. Google has signed MySpace, and many others (with the single exception being Facebook) to a set of eCommunity standards that will allow developers to write widgets that are portable across social networks. This is a boon for users because they can now standardize the tools they love across communities so that their preferences for tools can travel with them. Of course this also gives Google a powerful seat at the social network table because they can work even more deals to deliver targeted advertising. Click here to read more…

The mythical gPhone looks to be not so much an iPhone competitor as Google’s latest idea for advancing a set of standards that will ultimately grow the commodity Internet. Although they did not rule out someday producing their own handset, Google announced a large coalition of phone manufactures and service providers that would work together to deliver handsets that will allow software to be portable across carriers and devices. This is meant to unleash the creativity of programmers since they could then develop 3rd party applications that would run on anything that fits in your pocket and rings. This is no small idea. Google is carving out a very important role in the technology world because they are now continually pushing the world to standardize and use open platforms in order to extend the Web. Microsoft must be galled every time Google calls for a press conference with this type of announcement.