The Googlization of Everything

Washingtonpost.com:

Google Teams Up With Cell Industry

By Kim Hart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 6, 2007; D01

Google made its first major foray into the wireless industry yesterday with an announcement that it would partner with cellphone carriers, makers and software developers to create a new system for mobile phones, a crucial move as it seeks to expand its advertising empire.

Unlike Apple's iPhone, Google's project does not involve designing a new device. Instead, it plans to offer a free software system that would make it easier to surf the Web on phones and allow most cellphones to work more like computers. The system is designed to try to overcome the challenges of navigating the Web on a small device and to encourage the cellphone industry to liberalize what it has allowed customers to do with their phones. A greater audience would mean more potential advertising dollars for companies like Google.

The alliance is made up of nearly three-dozen companies, including Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Qualcomm and Motorola, to design the system, which will be available to software developers next week and to customers using specially equipped cellphones in the second half of next year. Although the 34 partners said they support Google's software, not all have formally committed to using it. The final agreements are most likely to involve revenue-sharing arrangements.

The agreement could signal enormous change for the wireless industry and may have regulatory implications for Google, which has brought its campaign for more accessible cellphones to Washington in recent months. It also spells a strategic shift for carriers Sprint and T-Mobile, which are trying to keep pace with larger rivals as wireless consumers demand increasingly sophisticated services. ...