Google has developed prototype cellphones to carry its search
engine and new mobile web browser and approached wireless operators
including T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless in an attempt to make
further inroads into the cellphone market.
Google's aim, according to the Wall Street Journal, is to
capture a large portion of the growing market for ads on
cellphones.
"We are partnering with almost all of the carriers and
manufacturers to get Google search and other Google applications
onto their devices and networks," a Google spokesman told the
Journal.
The No. 1 Internet search engine company intends to be a
participant in the January auction of US$15 billion worth of public
airwaves being given up by television stations as they convert to
digital broadcast.
Google could eventually become a phone operator with the
purchase of part of the wireless spectrum. But of more pressing
concern is the company's effort to forge deals with wireless
operators to carry its existing products and its ads.
Worldwide spending on mobile-phone advertising totaled US$1.4
billion last year, but that figure is expected to grow to nearly
US$14 billion?by 2011, according to the market research
company eMarketer.
The Google-ready cellphone envisioned by the company would
include cameras for photos and video, Wi-Fi capability for wireless
access to the Internet, and Global Positioning System
technology.
(Xinhua News Agency via Agencies August 4, 2007)
