Google Phone Rumours Gathering Ammunition
A huge rumour regarding Google’s entry to the mobile phone market has been resurrected, igniting interest in the future plans of the search company.
Their open source Android operating system has been developed as a low-cost alternative for manufacturers, allowing them to offer iPhone-esque bespoke functionality for their handsets without a protracted development time and costs. Due to be released on a number of devices by the end of the year, the unveiling of Android as a product Google was not keeping to themselves quashed speculation of them making a phone for the market.
However, a press conference held by Google’s co-founders this week has rekindled the fires of suspicion regarding a ‘gPhone’ to counter Apple’s new dominance in the smartphone sector. An apparent misquote in an article from Dan Cox of the Hollywood Reporter got the community revved again about the possibility of the phone’s development, rumours quickly debunked by Google themselves.
TechCrunch still won’t let this rumour lie though, with word that San Francisco product design firm Ammunition are working hard on designing the new handset for Google. A quick peek at their site proves the pedigree of the former Pentagram employees, with a number of concept designs for heavyweights such as Dell, Microsoft, Logitech and mobile phone company Sprint. These certainly look like the go-to guys for designing something like the gPhone.
Oh, and Ammunition’s founder? One Robert Brunner, Director of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. until 1997. Yes, he was succeeded by the amazing Jonathon Ive who went on to design everything Apple is now famous for, but he Brunner wasn’t shabby himself, designing the original Powerbook.
Silicon Valley Insider has a great piece on exactly why Google shouldn’t make a phone, especially now. Going for the masses with a software based solution is far more likely to prove successful than attempting to break off a piece of an already fractured market with hardware.
It could all just be conjecture and speculation, but TechCrunch spies often turn out to be right on the money. Time will tell as Google moves towards releasing the Android platform, as they will have to disclose their own plans to other manufacturers. Exciting times ahead, with Nokia’s Symbian architecture soon to be the choice for most mobile makers and the iPhone’s supremacy being cemented with 3G, Android will have to prove to be something special.
Tags: Apple, Google Android, Gphone, iPhone, Nokia
