Google has offically confirmed what has been rumored since the debut of Android and the Open Handset Alliance in 2007: The existence of a branded “Google phone” via a cryptic metaphor for dogfood. The device had previously been exposed via tweets by select employees this past week following the reveal of the HTC Passion in spy shots last month.
The hardware is expected to be officially announced next month during CES, with new information suggesting that T-Mobile will officially provide support for the device in terms of billing and service, with Google handling hardware sales and troubleshooting directly.
Preliminary specifications suggest that the device will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform and run Android 2.1, but no other specifications have been confirmed at this time.
Update: According to a Wall Street Journal report running tomorrow morning, the official name for the Google device will be the Nexus One and will also be offered by as yet unknown carriers, with Google serving as just one of the major distribution channels.
Google is moving down in the stack to challenge B2C opponents with an open architecture and new sets of standards. In creating a post-revenue business model, Google can only manage success if consumers accept a co-branding and outsourced manufactured device.
That comment makes no sense at all. Google has always been aggressively targeting customers directly. The flow from Gmail to Google Apps to Google Sync is a direct result. Gmail is number one in email not because of B2B.
The rest of the comment doesn’t make sense either. That’s the whole point of “with Google” branding that has been successful. Millions of With Google phones that are co-branded have already been sold.
T-Mobile??? why would Google choose them!!??
This looks very promising, bravo Google!
“The Nexus One will launch in early January, 2010. It won’t be sold by any one carrier, but instead will be an unlocked GSM phone. In the U.S., that means T-Mobile and possibly AT&T, whose exclusivity deal with the iPhone is about to run out. It will be running Android 2.1
The phone runs on a Snapdragon chip, has a super high-resolution OLED touchscreen, is thinner than the iPhone, has no keyboard, and two mics. The mic on the back of the phone helps eliminate background noise, and it also has a “weirdly†large camera for a phone. And if you don’t like the touchscreen keyboard, a voice-to-text feature is supposed to let you dictate emails and notes by speaking directly into the phone.”
Source: TechCrunch/Erick Schonfeld
Thank You
So.. no cdma version in the works? It would be cool if it was a 4g phone that would work with wimax.
Too bad it doesn’t have a keyboard. I guess I won;t be considering this device. Hopefully the next model has a keyboard…
I wouldn’t rule out a CDMA variant, but keep in mind Google is aiming to roll out their first Mobile Lab phone with a twist; completely unlocked 3G. AT&T and T-Mobile are much easier to achieve this on in GSM/UMTS, than Sprint and Verizon are in CDMA2000.
Sprint and Verizon both require carrier approve (even on their so-called “open devices”) where as AT&T and T-Mobile just require FCC approval.