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The world's largest Internet search company Google is preparing to announce an ambitious plan to bring the  company's Web applications and services such as Google Maps, GMail and YouTube to cell phones, according to an article published today in the Wall Street Journal. Cell phone makers are expected to have Google-powered handsets available by the middle of 2008 according to the article, which cites people familiar with the situation. The Lure of Google Applications and Services for Mobile Google intends to "shake up" the wireless market by bringing many of the same applications and services that have been successful in the traditional wired Web to the emerging and potentially vastly lucrative mobile device market, and according to the Journal article it will announce plans within two weeks detailing the company's goal of "[making] applications and services as accessible on cell phones as they are on the Internet." Google's cell phone plan is expected to allow mobile customers using a variety of handsets and service providers to benefit from new applications made by programmers utilizing the company's fully open development platform (or API in technical parlance), as well as some of its key existing applications such as: - The Internet's leading search engine
- The Google Maps mapping application
- The GMail Web-based e-mail program
- The YouTube video sharing service
Social networking features similar to those which have made the Web sites Facebook and MySpace two of the most active destinations on the Web will also be among those Google makes available through its open mobile environment. Agreements with Existing Mobile Carriers Only the Start Google appears to ultimately be concerned with freeing cell phone users from being locked in to any one  handset or service plan, instead allowing all mobile users to operate within an open Google environment, perhaps served in the U.S. by future bandwidth coming up for auction, funded by the type of targeted advertising that has been the mainstay of the company for years now. Wireless service providers are expected to put up a great deal of resistance to Google's mobile plans which are seen as a threat to the traditional methods that limit customer choice of mobile handsets and service plans. Google appears to be tackling its mobile computing goal through discussions with both hardware manufacturers and wireless service carriers. Google plans to work with handset makers to develop Google-powered cell phones, and has already begun discussions in recent months with several large manufacturers, including both Taiwan's HTC Corp. and South Korea's LG Electronics, and according to the Journal article both U.S. and foreign handset makers are being approached. Wireless operators said to be within Google's sights for partnerships include: - France Télécom's Orange SA
- Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA
- Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s 3 U.K.
Seeking To Do For Mobile What It Has Done for Web While some of its applications are already available in limited mobile forms, Google's forthcoming mobile plan appears to provide new usability features in the same type of smart and integrated applications the company has already done with much success on the wired Web. Google appears to be placing a great deal of importance on making its mobile platform as open to developers as possible. By partnering with manufacturers and wireless carriers to provide the industry's first fully open mobile phone, Google appears to be trying to gain both as many talented mobile applications programmers as possible, and all of the Google-powered phone customers it can manage. Google will need to address concerns about data privacy in an open mobile platform when it announces its plans. With the potential availability to programmers of sensitive information such as Global Positioning System (GPS) data showing exactly where a person is or has been while carrying a cell phone equipped with the technology, Google will need to show how it plans to safeguard customers private information while still allowing the kind of innovative application development it hopes for in attracting new users. Microsoft deals with the issue by requiring mobile applications developed for its Windows Mobile operating system to pass a certification process that attempts to make sure private user information is kept secure. With new mobile applications, Google stands to gain new users and the type of information about them that the company could use to further target the advertising it will show on Google-enabled mobile devices. Google-powered Cell Phone Details Expected Soon Google is branching out into a dizzyingly wide variety of computing pursuits beyond search and online advertising, and soon its vision of mobile services may join the company's other new goals in television and radio advertising. When Google releases that vision to the public within the next few weeks, it can expect most everyone in the high tech industry to be paying attention. Related Links:
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11:06 am on Oct. 30, 2007 (utc 0)