The blogosphere is abuzz today with commentary on the above video, which is purported footage of what will be the first phone to market – via HTC and T-Mobile – to employ Google’s Android, the search giant’s software-rival to Apple iPhone.
The Technology section of the NY Times first reported on the phone and the YouTube video yesterday:
Google is eager to get the Android platform on phones quickly because it thinks that the mobile Web is vital to the long-term growth of its digital advertising business.
“We can make more money on mobile than we do on the desktop, eventually,” Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said in an interview on CNBC this week.
But carriers have their own reasons for wanting devices that are more Internet friendly. For one, they can charge more for data plans than typical voice plans. And some carriers, like AT&T, are creating their own mobile applications that they hope will also be revenue generators.
With the cost of regular voice plans driven to depths just above operating margins for most wireless carriers, data plans hold much promise as the next frontier where we’ll all get fleeced. It’s a testament to just how much of a game-changer the iPhone has been if Google – who has a storied partnership with Apple – is still desperate to get their own mobile web product to market in order to capitalize on the emerging mobile marketplace.
Unfortunately, those who have played with the lame-named “Dream” say that it pretty much sucks compared to the iPhone. Did Apple really get the jump on everyone else this badly?