Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2007

The Google phone: the next big thing?

Rumours are abounding that we are soon to see the advent of the GPhone on our markets, but what will they offer us that we don’t already have?

Are we about to see the creation of a Google phone to add to the growing list of new technological gadgets? It seems so, if the rumours abounding are to be believed. Stories have been circulating for some time now about the development of a handset specifically catering for Google’s features such as Google Maps, Google Mail and its search engine. It is said that Google is keen to get a foothold on the mobile phone market in order to cash in on the fast-growing mobile phone advertising business. At the moment mobile phone advertising is worth around $11 billion (£5.4 billion) which the market research firm eMarketer told the Wall Street Journal would increase to $14 billion (£7 billion) by 2011. In fact, the advertising and marketing group, WPP, has predicted that by 2010 mobile phone advertising will make up 5% of all the money spent in the market in the UK. With this size of revenue instore it is unsurprising that Google seem keen to be a part of it.

In the past mobile phone advertising has not been very popular due to the inadequacy of 3G services on mobile phones, and handsets which did not operate well online. Now better and more advanced phones are being developed, and mobile network speeds are getting quicker, which means that mobile phones advertising is being seen as the next great advancement for the big companies. The importance Google gives to mobile phone advertising was seen recently when their chief executive Eric Schmidt reported that it creates more than double the revenue of non mobile phone adverts as they can be individualised. Only time will tell if this sentiment is going to be translated in to a Google Phone.

Sources: Times Online, BBC News