Dawn of the GPhone

Rumours are rife that Google is developing its own mobile phone, packed with its unique features, to rival others on the market.

If reports are true, we could soon see the GPhone in shops across the globe. Sources this week claimed that Google has been working on the phone with mobile manufacturers, and this is in fact a rumour which has been circulating since last year. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported that Google is keen to develop its own phone to cash in on the ever-increasingly important mobile phone advertising market. The market is currently worth around $11 billion (£5.4 billion) and market research firm eMarketer told the WSJ that this would increase to $14 billion (£7 billion) by 2011. In the past advertising on mobile phone has failed to take off mainly due to the failure of 3G services on mobile phones and a lack of “web friendly” handsets. Now however phones are becoming more and more capable, and mobile network speeds are getting quicker, therefore mobile phones are now seen as the next place for advertisers to conquer.

The phone said to be being developed would specialise in providing the features Google is known for, such as its maps, search engine and email. Google has also been in talks with other providers about bringing the full range of its products to other internet phones. It has already collaborated with Apple to offer services such as maps and email for its newly-launched iPhone. The advertising and marketing group, WPP, has forecast that by 2010 mobile phone advertising will make up 5% of all the money spent in the market in the UK. With this in mind, Google seems keen to get in on the action. The chief executive of Google Eric Schmidt seemed to echo this sentiment in a recent speech in which he said mobile phone advertising was extremely important as it creates more than double the revenue of non mobile phone adverts as they can be catered more to the individual.

Sources: