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Google Phone 'Nexus One' launch secrets begin to leak
16 Dec 2009 | 11.05 Europe/London
The Google Phone is very real and will almost certainly be sold in Europe during the first quarter of next year.
Online reports are suggesting the phone, believed to be called the Nexus One, will be available in America as soon as the start of January. However, a keynote speech by Eric Schmidt, Google CEO and Chairman at the World Mobile Congress Feb 15th to 18th) in Barcelona, would appear the most likely launch platform for, at least, Europe (possibly the world if it has not already gone on sale in the USA).
Until this month, Google had kept very quiet about its rumoured handset, yet as the Christmas handset buying season has heated up, the internet giant has started to let slip hints that those who want the latest device may well want to keep their proverbial powder dry until the New Year.
The biggest confession has been a blog (the main way in which Google announces product development) mentioning that the company had created a mobile device which it was allowing employees to road test. The blog promised more details at a later date.
Curiously photos of the Google Phone (or Nexus One if it keeps its current expected name), have started to leak, perhaps as a direct result of the employee trials or, a cynic might suggest, an orchestrated campaign to let smartphone buyers know Google is waiting in the wings.
Blogger Cory O’Brien got his hands on the handset long enough to post this image of it recently through Twitpic.
Nexus One Google Phone
As widely anticipated, the handset is made by HTC and runs, as one would imagine, Google’s Android platform. Those who have held the device reveal it is slightly thinner than an iPhone but has a slightly larger screen and also has a large-looking camera lens.
One potentially very different aspect of the device is how it might be brought to market. Rumours abound that it will not go the way of an exclusive with a single network, as was the case with the iPhone which, until recently in the UK, was only sold through O2.
With the FCC in America looking very closely at the legality of such exclusive deals, Google is said to be considering selling the phone direct and unlocked, so users can chose their own network.
This would be a very bold move and so, there is perhaps truth in the rumours, that this direct approach will be supplemented by working with one or more networks so end users have the option of being tied in or not and at least one network has a direct incentive in marketing the device.
Online reports are suggesting the phone, believed to be called the Nexus One, will be available in America as soon as the start of January. However, a keynote speech by Eric Schmidt, Google CEO and Chairman at the World Mobile Congress Feb 15th to 18th) in Barcelona, would appear the most likely launch platform for, at least, Europe (possibly the world if it has not already gone on sale in the USA).
Until this month, Google had kept very quiet about its rumoured handset, yet as the Christmas handset buying season has heated up, the internet giant has started to let slip hints that those who want the latest device may well want to keep their proverbial powder dry until the New Year.
The biggest confession has been a blog (the main way in which Google announces product development) mentioning that the company had created a mobile device which it was allowing employees to road test. The blog promised more details at a later date.
Curiously photos of the Google Phone (or Nexus One if it keeps its current expected name), have started to leak, perhaps as a direct result of the employee trials or, a cynic might suggest, an orchestrated campaign to let smartphone buyers know Google is waiting in the wings.
Blogger Cory O’Brien got his hands on the handset long enough to post this image of it recently through Twitpic.
Nexus One Google Phone
As widely anticipated, the handset is made by HTC and runs, as one would imagine, Google’s Android platform. Those who have held the device reveal it is slightly thinner than an iPhone but has a slightly larger screen and also has a large-looking camera lens.
One potentially very different aspect of the device is how it might be brought to market. Rumours abound that it will not go the way of an exclusive with a single network, as was the case with the iPhone which, until recently in the UK, was only sold through O2.
With the FCC in America looking very closely at the legality of such exclusive deals, Google is said to be considering selling the phone direct and unlocked, so users can chose their own network.
This would be a very bold move and so, there is perhaps truth in the rumours, that this direct approach will be supplemented by working with one or more networks so end users have the option of being tied in or not and at least one network has a direct incentive in marketing the device.