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2007-06-06 10:52:40
Update: Google mobile phone in the works?
Job opening posted on Google's Web site seems to confirm rumors the company is
designing its own phone
By John Blau, IDG News Service
March 08, 2007
If companies like Apple or even Italian fashion designer Prada can design a
mobile phone, why not Google? Maybe it will.
Rumors have been circulating in blogosphere for some time about the U.S.
search-engine giant studying the possibility of designing its own phone. A
recent job opening posted on the Google Web site appears to confirm the company
may now be tinkering with more than just an idea but with some real hardware in
its engineering labs.
"Google is experimenting with a few wireless communications systems including
some completely novel concepts," according to the Web-site recruitment text.
"We are building a small team of top-notch Logic Designers and Analog Designers
aimed at nothing less than making the entire world's information accessible
from anywhere for free."
Additional qualifications include "extensive circuit modeling and analysis
experience, excellent programming skills, experience with switch power supply
design" and a ham radio license.
With the mobile phone soon to become the most popular device to access the
Internet, it wouldn't be unthinkable for the world's largest search-engine
company to want to grab a bigger piece of the action, according to some
analysts.
"In the wake of Apple and some other big-name brands moving into the handset
business, why not Google?" said Phil Taylor, senior analyst with Strategy
Analytics.
Google and its arch rival Yahoo have been striking deals with both operators
keen to offer search-engine services to their mobile phone customers and
manufacturers interested in embedding search functions directly in their
handsets, according to Taylor.
Late last year, rumors emerged about Google and French mobile phone operator
Orange holding discussions about a possible partnership to design a co-branded,
Google-enabled handset, he said.
"If Google were to enter the market, it would likely work with an operator as
Apple has done with Cingular in the U.S.," Taylor said. "And like Apple, Google
would focus on designing the product and work with a contract manufacturer to
produce it."
But for Google to make a splash in the crowded mobile phone market, the company
would need to design a product that sticks out among the rest -- as Apple is
doing with its large-size, touch display, according to Taylor.
"It will be a challenge to come up with a really new design," he said.
A Google spokesman declined to comment, saying the company doesn't comment on
rumors or speculation.
Juan Carlos Perez in Miami contributed to this report