October 2007 Archives

Rumors are flying that the do-no-evilers over at Google are getting ready to launch the much-speculated-upon ‘Gphone’—or at least the software and services needed for such a phone to function. The rumor-mill flames were fanned by a Wall Street Journal article this morning, which quoted “people familiar with the matter” as saying that a Gphone software unveiling will be coming soon.

 

According to the Wall Street Journal’s report, Google’s goal with its allegedly upcoming release is to “make applications and services as accessible on cellphones as they are on the Internet.” Rich Tehrani predicted in a blog post earlier today that it’s unlikely Gphone can be any more wow-worthy than Apple’s iPhone.

 

“Somehow I have trouble believing Google will have a device anywhere near as useful as Apple’s iPhone,” Tehrani wrote.

If you live in the U.S. and Europe and feel as if every person you know (including yourself) owns and uses a cellphone, you’re right on. A new report out this month from Pyramid Research confirms the suspicion that the mobile phone markets in “First World” economies are pretty saturated.

 

According to Pyramid Research, at the end of 2006 there were almost 2.8 billion subscribers to mobile services around the world, translating to an overall penetration rate of 44 percent.

One of the bigger stories in the mobile space this week is the case of a New York woman who’s suing Apple for $1 million because of the way the company handled recent price cuts and changes to its iPhone and iPod product lines.

 

Dongmei Li, the woman who filed the suite, is p-oed because she bought a 4GB model of iPhone in July, and now her phone is obsolete; 68 days after iPhone’s launch in the U.S., Apple cut the price of the 8 GB iPhone from $599 to $399 and phased out the 4GB model.

 

Li claims that Apple’s actions represent “price discrimination, underselling, discrimination in rebates, deceptive action and other wrongdoings,” Times Online said in a Tuesday report. Li also thinks that Apple was wrong to lower the price because market conditions didn’t make the change necessary.