The Mobile Phone Keeps the Innovation Juices Flowing – this week the Google Phone

Someone asked me the other day, why are you focused on the mobile phone so much? I replied, that’s where the innovation is taking place. The only real news from the PC world is Dell restating its financial statements and consolidation among the also rans in that industry – hardly the stuff of innovation.
On the other hand, you can’t pick up a newspaper or a magazine and not hear about some development in the mobile phone world such as Apple’s iPhone, or the Google phone. In fact, it’s not so much about the mobile phone as it is about the PC to mobile phone connectivity. That’s where the action is taking place. How the phone connects to the web and how data is shared, stored, and displayed is what gets the innovation juices flowing in today.

Engadget posts about the rumored Google phone which they consider to be an iPhone killer. Called “the Switch” it is reported to be a Blackberry-like device running Java and Linux. Nothing earth shaking there. But what is interesting is the price model. Instead of charging for the service, Google plans to make the service free, but will use advertisements to cover the cost. While most bloggers search for clues about the specs and the look of the phone, it’s clear that it’s going to happen. Even the Wall Street Journal is writing about it.

From a technical point of view, the Linux capability seems to be one of the more interesting points to review. Apples’ iPhone is relatively closed – no access to the OS. Developers must code within the confines of the Safari web browser. A Linux-based phone gives the developer more access to the OS. The closed, easy to use applications from Apple will standoff against Google providing a rich set of development tools to third party developers operating on an open playing field.

Best regards,
Hall T.