Well, with all the buzz this week over Google’s blog about their Google Phone, I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon too. The buzz is that Google has provided their new Google phone, Nexus One, to their employees around the world for them to test and provide feedback to Google.
What’s so special about Nexus One? For one it’s supposed to be an HTC phone (with no HTC branding, but a Google branded phone) that will be thinner than the Droid and the iPhone. Secondly, it is to be sold direct to customers, not via a provider contract; it will be an unlocked GSM phone. In the U.S., that means service will come from T-Mobile and possibly AT&T, no Verizon. Third, it will provide Google Voice, VoIP, allowing you to utilize wireless networks to talk utilizing Google Voice. Not real sure how this will work, but it appears the phone will be able to switch between a wireless service provider to a wireless network when available. It seems you may be able to reduce your cell phone plan to the lowest possible option and save money, especially if you are in hotspots to take advantage of Google Voice a majority of your time. Question: Can you elect not to connect to a service provider at all and utilize the phone at home, in office, or wherever a hotspot exists; thereby costing nothing for service?
Of course this opens a whole other set of questions and potential problems. Will that drive the cost of internet service higher? Will the cost of internet service be based on usage, creating a set of ‘plans’ you will choose from when purchasing internet access? Will that increased cost eliminate ‘free’ hotspots we have all been enjoying the last few years? How will the FCC get involved in this?
Obviously this presents a lot of interesting questions and even more opinions. Of course, you can get all the information and opinions you could ever want simply by ‘Googling’ it. There are articles and pictures of the Nexus One on the web; again, just ‘Google’ them.
My point in all of this is Google itself. Everywhere you look it seems Google has its hand in it, and the list just keeps growing. Check out this website, www.googleworlddomination.com, which was actually authored in December 2004, about how Google will take over the world. It includes a countdown clock to the ‘takeover’, which at the time of this writing was 5 years, 2 days, 10 hours and 51 minutes. There is also a video link at the bottom of the page which is a fictional account of how Google will take over the world. The video is several minutes long, but kind of fun to watch. But it all comes down to one overriding question, “When will Google take over the world?”
—Marty Hudson