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Google, Skype, VOIP
GPhone, iPhone and NPhone?
By Joshua S. Hill
Thursday, August 30, 2007
I wrote the other day on the iPhone and how it may or may not be coming up against competition when and if Google enters the mobile market. Well, according to John Biggs of CrunchGear, an insider from hardware company HTC has confirmed that Google is indeed narrowing down a list of phones that they will launch in the first quarter of 2008 as their GPhone.
A special version of Google Maps will be created with in-built GPS, to provide up to the minute location information, as well as compatibility with Gmail and Google's own calendar application. In addition, one of the more interesting tidbits of information to arise is the fact that the GPhone will apparently have installed Google Talk, which will mean added VoIP capability to the phone.
For the uninitiated, VoIP -- or Voice over I.P. (Internet Protocol) -- is, in layman terms, the phone over the internet. You've heard of applications like Skype and services like Vonage, well that is VoIP. Thus, with mobile phones almost by requirement coming with internet connectivity, one would theoretically be able to use a program like Skype to make bargain basement cheap calls.
The operating system -- which I previously reported was going to be Linux -- could in fact be a version of Windows Mobile 6, but that is still an unconfirmed quantity.
The world of mobile telephony has shifted so quickly, from being dominated by the carriers such as AT&T and phone makers like Nokia to a world where free phone calls are commonplace with VoIP and hardware is being outsourced to companies like Apple and HTC.
However Nokia is making a play to regain some of their lost reputation, and they don't care how they do it. Presented during Nokia's GoPlay event Wednesday, Nokia announced a new phone that is, in essence, just a rebranded iPhone. It has the same functionality and "swish" as the iPhone, but has a Nokia logo instead. There is really no hiding the similarities, but apparently, Nokia aren't trying to.
"If there is something good in the world then we copy with pride," said Anssi Vanjoki -- Nokia's Executive VP & General Manager of Multimedia.
I'm not often surprised, but the sheer audacity and apparent lack of care, coupled with such honesty, has me speechless ---'kinda'.
Joshua can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com
