AT&T in talks with Google over the Open Handset Alliance?

According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple-BFF and mobile-telecom-extroidinaire AT&T is in talks with Google about joining the Open Handset Alliance. In an interview today, Ralph de la Vega -- chief executive officer of the company's wireless unit -- said that the provider is, "Analyzing the situation," concerning the use of Google's Android operating system for some of its handsets. Although Mr. de la Vega hasn't personally met with the search-engine giant, the fact that AT&T is even considering joining the Alliance could have a palpable impact on the industry's perception of the forthcoming mobile OS contender. As you'll recall, T-Mobile and Sprint have already jumped on the OHA bandwagon (though to what extent no one knows), and adding the de facto US leader to the mix might really get this stew boiling over. [Warning: read link requires subscription]

[Via Information Week]

[Mikey B. @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:16PM]

They (at&t) won't be happy unless they can completely lock down the OS and force users to pay for added features.

[Aaron @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:55PM]

By "they" you must mean Verizon

[Adrian Williams @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:46PM]

sorry att don't do that I have never paid for music, wallpapers, or ringtones I even flashed my phone maybe you should check out cellphoneforums.net before throwing your comment in

//Android is nothing but a OS it's not about to change the world

[obsidian desire @ Nov 24th 2007 3:32PM]

@Mikey B.

"Windows is only an OS, it's not going to change the world"....

[obsidian desire @ Nov 24th 2007 3:34PM]

I mean Adrian Williams, my apologies.

[Herman Manfred @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:18PM]

Poor PALM and ACCESS.

[jason @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:19PM]

Dammit, and I was looking forward to this one!

[William Page @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:24PM]

yeah - I can't see AT&T's motivation for this - an open development platform? Unless they think it can help them sell expensive data plans... that must be it.

[resource @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:36PM]

Can you say oxymoron?

Brain exploding now...

[FRANK @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:38PM]

SHOW ME THE MONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY

[Stedman @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:40PM]

awwesome

[Stedman @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:41PM]

kool

[alex408 @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:50PM]

imin

[Justin @ Nov 23rd 2007 7:59PM]

What kind of phone is that? I saw the Google guy using it and I've seen it in many posts but I have no clue of what the phone actually is.

[Tomoki @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:10PM]

It's not a retail phone. It's only being used at the moment to showcase the abilities of the Android software. Still, it is pretty.

[Tiffany @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:20PM]

the picture is of a prototype htc device. someone found an engineering model in san jose a few months ago. see this hofo thread. there is a picture of it if you log in

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=1216473

[anaknipedro @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:07PM]

This is good news.

[NG @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:07PM]

nice phone...

[SteveMB @ Nov 23rd 2007 9:23PM]

Yes, the phone is pretty nice.

[Paul @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:10PM]

AT&T ruins everything!

[saintchuck @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:17PM]

Is there something in the licensing agreement that stops the carriers from locking down Android handsets? If not, what good will it be?

[Alex @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:19PM]

I don't know how this is going to work. Isn't AT&T all about locking down the phones and getting customers to pay extra for phone features? The idea of the Android platform goes against all the locking-down and customer exploitation. Still, AT&T is the big dog in the U.S. and will help Android spread and take over the world.

[Adrian Williams @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:50PM]

No that's Verizon now Att is no T-mobile but it's close with its phone freedom

[Cupajo @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:34PM]

Well, so much for "don't be evil"...

[dukefan @ Nov 23rd 2007 8:39PM]

great another exclusive

[Undive @ Nov 23rd 2007 9:10PM]

Yippeee!

[jason @ Nov 23rd 2007 9:22PM]

thank you!

[ac0619 @ Nov 23rd 2007 9:22PM]

I'll take one, please and thank you.

[Coolone3000 @ Nov 23rd 2007 9:50PM]

I don't see why people are complaining about AT&T locking things down, when Verizon blocks the majority of bluetooth profiles. Not only that it was Verizon who up until recently made you re-sign your contract to put unlimited messaging on your account.
Anyone who says the U.S. phone market has a long way to go is damn right, but no one has forced you to do anything.

[bryan bax @ Nov 23rd 2007 10:05PM]

wow

[spaceb @ Nov 23rd 2007 10:06PM]

Pick me!!

[Tom @ Nov 23rd 2007 10:18PM]

nice

[charles lowe @ Nov 23rd 2007 10:20PM]

cool =)

[gregf @ Nov 23rd 2007 10:38PM]

meep meep

[Shak @ Nov 23rd 2007 11:05PM]

test

[ChrisG @ Nov 23rd 2007 11:17PM]

at&t is total bull. if this ever happens, then we'll be charge 5 dollars per kilobyte just for accessing google maps on att phones.

[Tangarie @ Nov 23rd 2007 11:31PM]

I could really use this! Yes !!

[RACHEL BROWNING @ Nov 23rd 2007 11:44PM]

WOULD LOVE TO WIN THIS

[juan @ Nov 23rd 2007 11:56PM]

at&t is total bull. if this ever happens, then we'll be charge 5 dollars per kilobyte just for accessing google maps on att phones.

[ethana2 @ Nov 24th 2007 12:24AM]

Does the link require subscription if you're a googlebot?

about:config...
useragent...
Googlebot 2.1

Just a minute, please, I'll get back to y'all.

[ethana2 @ Nov 24th 2007 12:30AM]

useragent string: 'Googlebot/2.1'

Full access available to InformationWeek article. Is that the link you need a subscription for? Should I try the other one? I will, to be thorough.... oh, that's just meta.

Yeah, just set your useragent to the string I gave you above. If they're not going to allow people to view the article, they should be allowed to clutter our search results.

[ethana2 @ Nov 24th 2007 12:32AM]

Wait I set it back, but it's still viewable... what link requires a subscription?

[ethana2 @ Nov 24th 2007 12:36AM]

Oh, the mercurynews link, I see it. Yeah, above trick works perfectly.

Pretty short article though, so there's little point.

[YelleR @ Nov 24th 2007 12:59AM]

Can I please have one?

[Yeral Polo @ Nov 24th 2007 2:56AM]

sounds good

[Jennifer @ Nov 24th 2007 5:21AM]

I would really enjoy a nice new at&t phone!

[BatteryAcid @ Nov 24th 2007 1:31PM]

sweet

[info @ Nov 24th 2007 2:02PM]

Google has not left even the gadgets!!! We knew they were already working on open social platform for sites..

[Mike @ Nov 24th 2007 2:03PM]

This isn't a contest everyone, it's a news post about a possible phone.

ah, nevermind, what's the point?

[Hivez @ Nov 24th 2007 2:29PM]

I