Google Spending Hundreds Of Millions On Mobile


location based services


Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its cell phone project and is courting U.S. and European mobile operators, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
By Reuters InformationWeek August 2, 2007 07:54 PM

NEW YORK - Google Inc has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its cell phone project and is courting U.S. and European mobile operators, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Anian, a Reuters company that tracks industry trends for institutional investors, reported last month that Google had engaged Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp to design a Linux software-based phone for launch in the first quarter of 2008.
The Anian report cited industry sources as saying T-Mobile, owned by Deutsche Telekom, would likely be Google's U.S. partner with France Telecom's Orange selling the phones in other markets.
The Journal said on Thursday Google had also approached the two biggest U.S. wireless services, AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, in recent months to ask them to sell phones with Google service.
It cited a Verizon Wireless executive saying the company had decided not to integrate Google's Web search tightly into its phones because of Google's advertising revenue-sharing demands. The newspaper said the executive had not commented on a Google phone.
A person familiar with the situation told Reuters that talks between Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, and Google have ended without resulting in an agreement.
Representatives for Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and AT&T declined to comment.
T-Mobile and Vodafone already incorporate Google search in their mobile