Google getting cozy with Verizon and Sprint for the Gphone?
By Nilay Patel 
posted Oct 31st 2007 12:46PM
posted Oct 31st 2007 12:46PM
The Gphone rumors have been heating up lately, and things seems like they're about to come to a boil. The Wall Street Journal, not generally known for wild rumor-mongering, is reporting that Google is in "advanced talks" with Verizon and Sprint and has made "significant progress" with T-Mobile, with an announcement of some kind due within two weeks. The news sent Google stock past $700 today, although it's still not clear if Google is simply developing its own software or going all out and doing an entire handset. Either way, it looks like Google's getting ready to make a move sometime soon, and with the amount of chatter we're hearing, it's going to be a big one.
I remember when Google had their IPO and the stock went over $100. I though "Whoah! All those people are gonna lose their ass when the stock drops to $9."
This is why I am working my ass to the bone in a cube, and the dudes downtown are buying 3 million dollar apartments and piles of cocaine.
They're not going with their own software, if they're considering going with Verizon. Since Verizon is known for raping their phone's software.
@Paul
I didn't realize this till I was at the Verizon store a couple weeks ago, but it seems almost all their new phones have 2 UI's now. The horrid Verizon one and the one from the manufacturer that is actually nice.
@JESSE S - They DONT FUCK WITH HIGH END???? WTF YOU BEEN HIDING???? YOU FUCKING ASS CLOWN - WTF DO YOU CALL CRIPPLING THE GPS ON THE BLACKBERRY 8830???? AN OPTION...??????
Caps-lock......press it.
FinancialRetard, I feel your pain.
Back to the topic at hand, I'm excited that all the Google goodness will be going CDMA / EVDO instead of GSM / HSDPA.
Living in Kansas City, CDMA is the best choice for cell users who actually use data.
Bring it on!
Yeah, CDMA is so superior to GSM it isn't even funny. GSM is just older, that's why it was adopted more.
Look at the really technologically advanced countries, like Korea (and Japan?), they use CDMA. But they also have R-UIM cards. Bastards.
Go with Sprint. Integrate WiMax...this would be a googlephone.
I'd think it would have to be software, since Sprint and Verizon are CDMA and T-Mobile is GSM.
I agree Chris...I dont think Google is ready to try its hand at hardware....they are software kings and they know it. Nothing would kill this faster than an UGLY handset.
I dunno Warren. A lot of people gave Apple shit for going into the portable MP3 player space, them not being a "consumer devices" company but a "computer" company. We all know how that turned out. I say let them try and see what happens. Not at all related, but Google has designed things like server appliances in the past. This is not their first foray into hardware.
True...They did give Apple shit with the iPod and iPhone - but at least Apple had a lot of experience with mass producing hardware before they did it. Google has limited experience with hardware - Honestly - I hope Google pulls it off - I have an iPhone and I love it - but competition is always a good thing for the consumer. :D
The iPhone is only useful to people who just need a phone, and iPods sound like crap out of the headphone jack.
DONT SCREW ME NOW VERIZON
typed in all caps for hope that it will actually be worth something
@Warren & Chris:
Agreed on both counts ... plus, a handset gets you exactly that, A handset. Software allows the Google machine to spread into a *much* greater population of phones.
I am excited :)
I wonder if at some point in the past when Apple was looking for partners for the iPhone, VZW and others knew that Google would be coming down the pipeline. This may have made them less likely to "give up the farm" for the iPhone (and ultimately a teeny tiny market share).
I'm stuck in a Verizon contract and I would totally love something like this. Unfortunately Verizion likes to stick their proprietary VCAST crap on everything.
Only thing I would love is ITUNES support but we know that's not going to happen. Guess I'll still have my phone + ipod...
Why? iTunes is a pile of crap, and so is DRM.
And learn up about how Verizon messes with phones. The point being, they DON'T mess with the high end phones, like what this would be.
You do realize they mess with all the phones in their lineup. Even the high end Blackberry World Edition comes with the GPS disabled. Don't try and give us that stuff about Verizon not messing with their high end phones. They cripple all their phones and nickel and dime you for the basic features included with the phone!
Yes. VZW messes with ALL the phones they carry. Thats probably a big reason why they passed on the iPhone - they couldnt F with it.
They messed with the new WM6 I760. They removed Windows Live IM and Terminal Services.
What did they do to the i760? What about the 6800? The PN-820? The Moto Q's? The Treo's?
I would love to see them do firmware replacements for a bunch of phones. Now THAT would be worth something!
please deliver on this because apple decided to go exclusive with the AT&T. i love my t-mo and I don't want to unlock the thing to work with my carrier. i really hope google deliver and have a open platform. the iphone is nice but apple/AT&T just give it a bad name to me. Limiting the 3rd part software, limiting a family to purchasing a maximum of two and limiting the customer to crappy AT&T. We need you google.
Hate to the bringer of bad news, but you won't be able to use this on T-Mobile's network. T-Mobile is GSM, while Sprint and Verizon are CDMA.
CDMA phones don't unlock the same way as GSM, CDMA phones don't have simcards. The programming is stored in the phone, and it is locked by the network.
wrong.. The article itself mentions Goog's talks with T-mobile as well.
How can you say that anyone can or cannot use this when we don't even know wtf "this" is?!
I too hope Google does something with T-mobile... I was going to buy a new Shadow, but now I might wait for this announcement before pulling the trigger.
brian, do you know you talking about? Are you saying this is going to be for CDMA only?
Software/cripples hardware is a huge issue with phones, but the biggest issue for me is data and voice cost. How's Google going to make things cheaper for data/voice. Right now the cheapest plan for me is still AT&T's plan for the iPhone. Unlimited data and a 700 min family voice for $110 per month. Even T-mobile can't hit that without losing some major features.
900 minutes and "unlimited" (they can cap you at 5gigs, but they don't always, it isn't automatic) data is $100 before taxes at Verizon. Sprint is incredibly cheap, especially Sero.
um, I pay $70/month for 1,000 minutes, 2 lines, 10 my faves numbers, and unlimited data on T-mobile, which in turn gives me push email on my E61, and great customer support.
Billybob: $70 for 2 lines unlimited minutes and 10 my faves? Wow, you got a good deal. Last week I checked it was $60 for 2 lines, no txt, no data, and 700 minutes, no MyFaves.
Billybob: $70 for 2 lines unlimited minutes and 10 my faves? Wow, you got a good deal. Last week I checked it was $60 for 2 lines, no txt, no data, and 700 minutes, no MyFaves.
My purely unsubstantiated guess is that it'll be a mix of web services and installable mini apps that run on a variety of OS's including Symbian, WM, OS X (iPhone flavor), etc. Their recent move to IMAP would align with this so people could read their email offline. Perhaps other things like calendar events and such would sync through the service and be stored on the local apps.
I'm no expert in this stuff so don't come at me like I'm lying or deceiving. I could very well just be completely wrong.
I doubt they would support other OS apps. But I don't think they'd make the development platform restrictive, so it would probably be easy for people to develop apps for them.
What I would love to see on the Gphone, is, EV-DO Rev. A, Verizon, 800x480 screen (with good contrast, brightness, colors, etc. Resolution means nothing if the screen looks like crap), a REAL keyboard (preferably with a changeable combination, I know I would like to use Dvorak and QWERTY on my portable device), digital audio output, and an option hard drive. Also, make it powerful.
Correction: "gPhone.beta"
:)
If Google had to choose between Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, I hope T-Mobile is chosen.
Even if CDMA is superior, GSM is used in most places, meaning CDMA phones turn into bricks when you travel, unless they are dual mode like one of the BlackBerry phones.
Most people in the US don't travel outside of the US that often ;)
I hope something happens w/ the Gphone for Sprint. I have a Tmobile phone as my main phone and Sprint as my secondary because I have an old employee plan that is still yet to expire. So I like keeping my main phone something simpler (right now a Nokia 6170 soon to be a N76) and keep my secondary phone as the more complex one (right now, a PPC-6700). The iPhone would be perfect if it was available for Sprint but alas its not, GSM only... Cingular only. My PPC6700 is getting on my nerves now and I need to replace it. I need to figure out with what, but I don't we'll see the gphone in the immediate future so I guess I will have to get something else for now.
@FRED
iAM sorry but i live in Westchester Ny and work in the city and ive traveled to boston down to Miami over to Cali and Vegas and ive never been in an area that i didnt get cell coverage and i have Sprint. I am sure Verizon has the same coverage. So unless you live in WESTBUMBLEFUK on a farm iam sure u get CDMA service. Now understand all the large markets HAVE coverage for CDMA which is probably the market that these companies shoot for.
I dont know one person who has ATT, othen then the snooty people at my job that have an iphone i dont know anyone that has ATT and only a couple that have Tmobile which they hate.
Sprint customers can roam on the VZW network.
um... i'm pretty sure fred meant if you travel to other countries (like many people do these days) a CDMA phone turns into a brick. whereas with a GSM phone, you can still use phones that support the local frequency since most countries (europe and asia) use GSM.
I hope they don't do a physical device. for ome i think it'd be a mistake for google - they're a software/services company, and they should play to their strength. for two, i don't think the market really needs another device vendor. what they need is a common service suite.
1) remove the burdon of voice mail from each vendor, and just do voice messages stored in a gmail message attachment. then put mobile gmail into this gphone app suite.
2) same thing, but for sms txt messaging - replace it with google talk.
3) the common app suite then integrates ads (small intro voice ad if you call for your voice mail?), and the carriers reduce rate costs in exchange for part of the ad revenue.
4) oh, and google maps application, with location detection and similar features, in the suite.
5) deploy for symbian, nokia linux (maemo), motorola linux, midlet java, and maybe even for desktop java (windows, linux, and mac laptops with pc card or usb mobile devices)
Google is an ADVERTISEMENT COMPANY. I wonder how they're going to sell ads on my phone.
"The Wall Street Journal, not generally known for wild rumor-mongering"
Uhh... did you forget that they've been purchased by NewsCorp (Rupert Murdoch)? All credibility the WSJ ever had is out the window. So while this may be legit, you should never ever consider the WSJ safe from rumor-mongering.
Thank god I didn't quit sprint.
Let's go over things here.
GSM Vs. CDMA.
CDMA is great for carriers. The phones are locked to them (The network to use is hard-coded in the firmware) and they can oversubscribe available bandwidth massively.
GSM, however, is better for consumers. If you want to change networks, you pop out the SIM card for your old network and pop in a new SIM for the new network. Travel outside the US at all? You NEED GSM (As the US + subsidiaries are the ONLY countries that use it). Want guaranteed call quality? GSM is the answer. Each cell tower has enough bandwidth allocated for it's available channels, as the number of available channels is fixed by available bandwidth, rather than variable by demand like CDMA is.
GSM has it's data seperate from the voice network (Well, apart from SMS), and uses (In order of slowness) GPRS (Slowest), EDGE or UMTS (Fastest) (Depending on coverage for that area). This means lots of people downloading masses of data doesn't affect calling quality at all.
GSM has industry adoption the world over, whereas CDMA only has it's niche in the US/Canada. The only people who come forth in support of CDMA are people who are (or were formerly) employees of Qualcomm. And considering it was Qualcomm that came up with CDMA, that's not all that surprising.
Amen Brother!
Engadget: "Verizon dumps CDMA for GSM-based LTE in 4G networks"
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/21/verizon-dumps-cdma-for-gsm-based-lte-in-4g-networks/
You're dumb. First of all, the networks are locked. There are 0 locks on the phones, outside of VZW replacing some phone UI's/features.
Ever hear of R-UIM? No? Google it. China and Korea (and possibly others) use it.
I can go take my Verizon phone, or my friend's Sprint phone, to China, Africa, Korea, or where ever and use it on the CDMA networks there.
Data is separate on CDMA too.
And, if Google did a phone, they'd probably make it a world phone, and just go GSM in Europe, and CDMA in the US and other countries.
So, I could go to the US, grab a Sprint or Verizon phone for use while I'm there, and when I return to Canada, use that same phone on Telus here?
No?
But I can do that with T-Mo/Cingular/AT&T/ and Rogers/Fido (GSM).
All I need to do is walk up to my local Rogers or Fido dealer, and buy a "Pay as you go" SIM for $30, with $20 calling credit onboard.
I know this works. I moved from the UK, and took my Nokia 6260 (Which was on Orange PAYG) with me, and now it's running just fine on Rogers Wireless. And if I ever went back to the UK, all I need do is swap the Rogers SIM with my Orange SIM and I'd be back on their network. No muss, no fuss, no sitting on hold for hours trying to get a network to release their claws from the phone I've got, and waiting hours for another network to acknowledge I want to bring my own phone to their network.
Google already does hardware. Their search server solution is a 1U rackmount custom solution (there is a good breakdown on ARS). Of course building a custom PC and building a custom phone are two different things. Personally I love my Sprint phone and if Sprint offered a Google phone I'd most likely buy it. The two Samsung models I've had with them have been dualband tri-modes and in some remote areas in the northeast US it goes into analog mode, but in any city (like the DC Metro where I live), it's great.
- Tony R.
Even if the first device released is CDMA, they will have to make a GSM if they want any world expansion.
The Gphone is fake! Two students from the Netherlands got previous year the assignment to make a hype on the internet. And they came up with the idea to make a phone that's very easy to use. And they made a render of it (as you see above). Then they send it to engadget with the story that they where at some kind of secret meeting en they made a snapshot of it.
And now everyone believes it and it's a real hype now, so they did a really good job.
I think nobody will believe me, but is true!
wow compete with iphone!
charles
http://www.whatis.name
Google on Sprint would make my decade.