How does Verizon fight back against the Apple iPhone and AT&T network? Simple… They call Google and discuss partnering with the world’s leading search engine in order to come up with a device which will potentially take some share from Apple.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that talks are underway but nothing solid has come of them.
It seems that Verizon will be responsible for hardware and Google will supply the software. In addition there will be an advertising split of some sort.
According to the WSJ, one concern held by Verizon is whether the device will be secure enough.
My take? This device will have to be as slick and integrated as the iPhone to make any sort of dent in the market. Alternatively if Google subsidizes the telephone’s monthly service fees in exchange for users agreeing to see ads, all bets are off.
This could happen. I could see Verizon with their superior US wireless coverage forgoing some subscription revenue in exchange for the lucrative potential upside of wireless advertising.
This is certainly a story which is developing quickly and worth watching closely.
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my guess. google is going for an ad based free service; you just buy the phone and the calls are free. who do i think they will partner with? sprint. why? sprint has the only netwrok owned by one company without large holes in crucial metro areas(even if they do not cover the rural areas and have the smallest square mile footprint.) although verizon, at&t and t-mobile all sell nationwide plans they all involve roaming on partner networks. alltel makes significant roaming revenue from all three. the roaming fees would not work well with a all you can call format that I expect. it would be the sprint coverage area and thats it. if you need roaming the gphone will not be for you. how will google pay sprint? with help from the handset manufactures.
i expect these to be data centric handsets with the voice going over gtalk and grandcentral(which will be merged into one product before release time) anyone with a gmail/gtalk/grandcentral account will log into any handset and make and recieve calls.
this is going to turn the telecom indusrty completely upside down and will be the first big step to the complete elimination for per minute metering of phone calls.