One thing that can be said about media colossus Google is they never seem to miss an opportunity to boost their coverage or expand their array of services, embodying the old adage, "Rust never sleeps." Now they have announced they are on the verge of releasing their mobile phone Internet connection service and software, and will focus on developing the China and Indian markets, among others. To augment this move Google has developed new technology in conjunction with companies like Sprint and the results should help create a simpler and more powerful phone for the next generation of web users.
Google is partnered with four mobile manufacturers, Samsung, HTC, Motorola and LG, although Google itself has not announced a phone of its own to compete. The Google Internet designed "software stack" will come online in the latter half of 2008. Google purchased a company named Android in 2005 to facilitate development of the technology, owned by Andy Rubin, who is now Google's director of mobile platforms. About the new technological development, Rubin stated, "This is going to bring the internet into cell phones in a very cool way."
To further the development of the sector, Google formed the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), which now includes 34 companies, that also boasts chip manufacturers and mobile phone makers. Major United States mobile companies such as Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile have already signed on for the innovative, Google-empowered phones. The new Google program is based on computer code that will be open-sourced and distributed among programmers, allowing them to build from the foundations a new application augmenting the system. Michael Gartenberg, of Jupiter Research said, "This is a shot that is going to be heard around the world, but it's just the first shot in what is going to be a very protracted battle in the next frontier of the mobile web."
Google has also announced it is specifically developing mobile products just for China's massive markets, especially since so many Chinese are pre-disposed towards going online via mobile service venues. Lee Kai-fu, Google Inc's president for greater China, said, "China has a large mobile opportunity, with so many mobile users who will become mobile Internet users in the next few years as 3G and other technologies become pervasive. These mobile users have very different usage patterns from the American users. Most Chinese users who touch mobile Internet will have no PC at all. That requires thinking from ground zero on how to design products that fit their needs." In the country of a 1.3 billion, there are around 500 million subscribers to mobile communications devices in China, is the world's second biggest Internet market, after the U.S.
Google's aggressive move into mobile web technology has not gone unnoticed and will be challenged aggressively by rivals. For example, Europe's biggest telecom companies are committed to create a mobile phone search engine to challenge Google and Yahoo!. Mobile networks like Vodafone, France Telecom, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Hutchison Whampoa, Telecom Italia and the American cell-network, Cingular, are currently gathering in secretive meetings to discuss the best way to challenge the business menace represented by Google's mobile forays into European and Asian Internet access.
A key to the success of this stealth initiative is the massing of these companies to create a large enough advertising profile to draw enough support from markets. The four large British operators, being Orange, run by France Telecom, O2, run by Spain's Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile and Vodafone have a combined customer base of 600 million mobile users. An executive at one large UK mobile network stated, "There is a big play in mobile search that we need to be part of, and we are exploring those options at a very high level."
But in the war for mobile subscribers, Yahoo and Google have a large advantage in terms of company agreements and global partners already inked. Barry West, president of 4G Mobile Broadband for Sprint comments on the union between Sprint and Google, "This collaboration brings what will be the best mobile Internet network together with the leading Internet search company. It allows us to capitalize on the powerful mobility and Internet trends, and create wireless services and applications that take advantage of each company's history of product development innovation."