Google Phone Confirmed

Saturday, March 17, 2007

After months of speculation, a Google executive has confirmed that the internet search engine company is working on a handheld mobile phone. Isabel Aguilera is quoted as saying "Some of the time the engineers are dedicated to developing a mobile phone,"

Google in the United States have again and again declined to comment on rumors of a Google Phone, but the shroud of secrecy over this project has been tearing lately. Simeon Simeonov of Polaris Venture Partners wrote in his blog that an inside source told him the Google Phone will be a BlackBerry-like device running C++ at the core with an operating system bootstrap and optimized Java and that it would offer VOIP communications. Word also circulated that that Google and Samsung were building a phone, code-named "Switch", Simeonov said, and his posting includes what he claims is a leaked photo of the device.

In other telecom-related moves, Google and Samsung announced a partnership in January to bundle mobile versions of Google Search, Google Maps and Gmail on certain Samsung phones. Late last year, the rumor was that France’s Orange Telecom was in discussions with Google.

Google also hired Andy Rubin, the founder of handheld device maker Danger who later started Android, a mobile-software manufacturer that Google bought in 2005. Google also acquired mobile-applications company Reqwireless. In another move Google secretly acquired a company called Skia, whose first product is a portable graphics engine that renders 2D graphics on handhelds.

Skia whose name means shadow in Greek, has kept the Google acquisition secret since 2005. In January 2007 word was leaked to various press outlets. Google acknowledges the purchase, but will not say what the company is working on besides engineering.