If you believe the talk on the street, Google Inc. is eyeing everything wireless from becoming a mobile virtual network operator to building Google-branded handsets. But it’s the company’s recent work with the Federal Communications Commission that stoked the gossip mill last week.
The Internet behemoth jumped onto the mobile playground three years ago with a simple, text-based service that delivers local business listings. The Mountain View, Calif.-based firm has continued to target on-the-go consumers by mobilizing its familiar Internet applications including Gmail, and, last week, its calendar service. The company recently added GPS functionality to its Google Maps offering, and earlier this year showcased a voice-driven version of its mobile search service.
Meanwhile, Google has forged relationships with some of the biggest players in wireless. Motorola Inc. offers handsets with a Google-branded hard key that launches a wireless Web session-using Google’s site as a home page, of course. LG Electronics Co. Ltd. recently agreed to install the company’s software on millions of phones, and T-Mobile operators across Europe use Google to power their “web’n’walk” services.
It may be no surprise, then, that Google is the top mobile domain for U.K. users, according to data from M:Metrics. But Google is the favorite of U.S. users as well, outpacing second-place Yahoo, despite the fact that most Americans must stroll away from carrier decks and triple-type the URL to reach Google’s home page.
What’s next?
The company’s next big move is a matter of much speculation. A host of different recent rumors have swirled regarding a “Google phone,” an apparent response to Apple Computer Inc.’s upcoming iPhone. Google is teaming with Orange, according to some, to develop a Google-branded device. Simeon Simeonov, a technology partner with Polaris Ventures, wrote two months ago that the company has a team of 100 working on a BlackBerry-like device, citing the company’s 2005 acquisitions of mobile software developers Reqwireless and Skia. The latest bit of conjecture on the hardware front teams Google with High Tech Computer Corp. to bring devices to market by the end of the year.
It appears such tales aren’t entirely unfounded. A European Google executive at one point said the company is considering building a low-cost device, and the company’s Web site continues to solicit resumes for a program manager “who will be responsible for leading teams that will launch hardware products into mass production.”
Many analysts are skeptical, however, noting that Google has never tried its hand at manufacturing hardware-and Google, of course, has repeatedly declined to address the speculation. But the company is slightly less circumspect about the upcoming 700 MHz auction.
Auction comments
“Google has made no decision on whether or not to participate in the auction,” according to Richard Whitt, the company’s Washington telecommunications and media counsel. “Among other things, it’s fair to say that the shape of the FCC’s auction rules and spectrum band plans will be a factor.”
Indeed, Google is one of the very few outsiders with pockets deep enough to build its own network, and a Google-branded wireless service could prove to be a compelling alternative for consumers. But industry insiders say Google’s efforts to create an online-style auction for spectrum might have more of an impact on the industry.
While traditional spectrum auctions remain the playground of only the richest service providers, Google is lobbying the FCC to allow smaller players to enter the game. It wants to develop a real-time auction that would lease access to radio waves for a set period of time.
“It takes the current model of a ‘winner’ of spectrum to many winners which can use spectrum more efficiently to deliver better services for end users,” according to The Shosteck Group. “Many of these ‘winners’ could be short-term winners who do not want to be tied into a lengthy obligation to the federal government or to hefty infrastructure spend. It allows the ‘winner’ to amortize its investment over many more ‘buyers,’ thus making sense out of what surely will be a very expensive investment.”
The “lease” period for spectrum could be broken into a few seconds or months, allowing mobile devices to “sniff” for the most efficient radio waves for a certain period of time. Such a move not only would open up the spectrum-bidding process, it would also create a space Google is well-positioned to fill: that of a clearinghouse for spectrum. Like it does with its AdWords business, Google could lease spectrum using real-time data.
“The idea that they would become spectrum brokers, that’s much in line with their goals,” said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. “They do have a lot of money, and they can play in this high-stakes game of acquiring spectrum. They’re not only trying to acquire some themselves, but also trying to change the game.”
