Published: Monday - March 19, 2007
Words by Tim Boswell
Google (Photo: Google, Inc.)
Rumors or Google creating its own mobile phone will not go away, and now with a recent statement from the company, the public is even more confused.
While a Google official in Spain last week said that the company has been developing a low-cost, Internet-connected phone with a color, wide-screen design, an official word has yet to be announced.
"Mobile is an important area for Google," company spokeswoman Erin Fors told Reuters on Friday (March 16). "We remain focused on creating applications and establishing and growing partnerships with industry leaders to develop innovative services for users worldwide. However, we have nothing further to announce."
According to newspaper and blog reports as of late, Google has been shopping its phone design to potential mobile phone manufacturing partners in Asia.
Before mobile enthusiasts start waiting in a line for the phone, remember that speculation about Google products has been wrong before. A year ago, Google was widely reported to be building its own line of personal computers, but when information materialized it was a set of free software programs designed to make any existing Windows PCs easier to use.
But, several reports are leaning toward the development of a new phone, according to Reuters. Richard Windsor, a phone analyst with brokerage Nomura in London, told clients late last week that unspecified Google representatives at a major European conference in Germany had confirmed the company is working on its own phone device.
"Google has come out of the closet at the CeBIT trade fair admitting that it is working on a mobile phone of its own," Windsor said, according to Reuters.
And also, Isabel Aguilera, head of Google's Iberian operations, was quoted last week in Spanish news site, Noticias.com, as acknowledging the rumor Google engineers are working part-time to develop a mobile phone.
A mobile phone or not, gadget enthusiasts have shifted their focus from the craze over Apple's iPhone -- which is expected in June -- to whether Google is developing an even lower-cost phone.
"We obviously need another mythical mobile to drool over and speculate about -- and the natural candidate is, of course, the so-called Google phone," geek hardware site, Engadget, wrote earlier this month, according to Reuters.
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