The Google Phone

Ok, so we now have confirmation via some reliable sources that Google is indeed going to be manufacturing and selling their own branded handset. This is not Android on an HTC, LG, or whoever device, it will be Android running on a Google branded device (which might be made by one of the mentioned manufacturers but will have no manufacturer’s logos and be licensed to Google as made by Google).

So before we begin, just want to refer you to a post we did back in July about How Google Could Revolutionize the Wireless Industry. Go take a look and come back, we’ll wait…

So it seems that that has been Google’s plan all along. At least to some extent.

Google seems to be creating their own phone that will take a SIM card (in all likelihood) and will have major Google Voice integration that will allow you to make all of your calls through Google Voice as VoIP calls, there by only using data and no voice or text messaging rates need to be incurred.

So there are two ways to implement this, one would be to become their own MVNO and use say T-Mobile’s or AT&T’s (or a combination of the both) towers and sell their own service through it and brand it as Google the phone company etc.

The other way (and the way I would believe they would do it) would be to sell the phone by itself and allow people the option to use it on any carrier they want (might even have CDMA and GSM built in so all the carriers are options). Then you would just choose a Data only plan from that carrier and Google’s services would be free (with some ad placement at some point I’m sure). This way Google doesn’t upset the current Wireless Industry since the carriers are still making their money on their data plans, you the consumer get a $50 or less unlimited everything plan, and Google gets a huge audience for their ads, statistics mining and the like (plus revenue from the phone sales of course).

I would think they would then do as they like to do and grab some wireless spectrum (which they have been eyeing in the past) and after a while put up their own towers and have their own separate phone company and send all the others crying to the FCC. Now, that would cause a huge uproar and lawsuits galore, so they might stay away from that for a while, but with Google its still a possibility.

The only issues I have with this concept, is the fact that generally Voice over IP (your phone calls over the data connection) needs at least a 3G connection and can still occasionally be crappy quality at that speed too. So if you HAD to have 3G to make a phone call, would it be worth saving the $30 or so from having an unlimited everything plan with say T-Mobile? Now of course, who knows if Google has come up with some proprietary way of compressing packets and making the VoIP work over EDGE as well, solving this issue.

Another issue, is the fact that unlimited everything plans are getting cheaper and cheaper naturally, and data plans themselves aren’t. So again if you could get unlimited everything now using say T-Mobile for $79.99 would you get a VoIP unlimited plan to save $30 or so (since most unlimited data only plans are $50 and keep in mind that most have a 5GB data cap on them as well)?

Last issue they would have to address is customer service. Google is not one for customer service, not that they give bad customer service, they just do give customer service. They really don’t like talking to the end consumer (no phone numbers for support of any kind on 99% of their products) so that would pose a whole new cost for them, they’d have to hire a support center to handle their wireless support if they chose to go that route and have their own company.

So what do you guys think about the concept, think there’s more to it? Will you switch? Have any other info on the Google phone?