Following the release of Android, it looks like Google has no intention of leaving the mobile world alone. According to Bloomberg, the internet search giant submitted a plan to Federal Communications Commission asking it to open up unused TV airwaves for mobile use.

Bloomberg reports that Google’s plan says that the vacant spectrum or “white spaces” could be used for high-speed mobile access without causing interference without disrupting TV signals.

Google has long been tinkering with acquiring spectrum of its own, and lost out last week to Verizon Wireless in a spectrum auction. Now its got the handsets ready and mobile search is opening up, making sure consumers have speedy mobile networks at their disposal would be a boon to Google. It seems, though, that despite Google’s pleas the “white spaces” won’t be opened up any time soon.

Sonya over at the Orange County Register has been busy documenting a list of applications being developed for both Android and iPhone.

If you’re at all interested in this area, it’d be worth keeping an eye on the list. Here’s the Android List and the iPhone List.

Nice one Sonya!

Google has been taking a swipe at fellow mobile operating system purveyors Apple. According to IT Week, at a conference last week, Google’s mobile platforms manager Rich Miner said:

“Once you have devices out there from Motorola, HTC, Samsung, and so on, there’s a much larger potential market on Android than for the iPhone. There’s a single manufacturer, it’s targeted at a particular demographic, and it falls far short of the 1 billion mobile phones sold every year worldwide.”

Miner probably has a point here: the Android platform is going to be available to any number of device manufacturers making both high and low end devices. As a result, there’s definitely a far larger potential market for Android. But, that said, Apple’s iPhone was never a mass-market play - it was always going to be aimed at those with a bit of cash to spend - so the two aren’t necessarily rivals to start with.

As a footnote, it’s not all trash-talking: Miner also said if he were a developer, he’d be working on both platforms.

If you’re still excited about getting your hands on a real live Android-sporting handset, LG and Samsung could be your best bets, with The Korea Times and others quoting spokespeople from both manufacturers confirming the imminent arrival of the Google operating system.

According to an assortment of reports, it looks like 2009 could be the likely date for both phone makers’ Android debut, while the Korea Times suggests Sprint Nextel could be Samsung’s partner of choice at launch, with LG skipping down the aisle with T-Mobile.

So who’s going to be next to go Android? Google’s Open Handset Alliance lists HTC, LG, Samsung and Motorola as members and I think it’s a safe bet to expect Android mobiles from all four. My gut feeling is that Sony Ericsson and Nokia are unlikely to go down the Google route, but if the former’s Windows Mobile announcement and the latter’s deal with Google are anything to do by, it’s not an impossibility.

The elephant in the room: Have Google missed the mark with Android so far?

Now Mobile World Congress is over the flood of news is slowing enough to step back and assess what we’ve seen. S60 got a pretty consistent ‘C-’ grade for their Touch demo, but I’m a bit surprised no-one has taken Google to task for their poor Android showing… OK, we saw a few prototypes and even a demo running on some production hardware, but aside from some gripes about the interface the reviewers singularly failed to call Google out on the biggest issue… Android at the moment is looking like ‘just another mobile platform’.

This C|Net piece hints at the problem, asking if we really need 4 mobile platforms: Windows Mobile, Symbian, Mobile Linux (not sure I’d include that one yet) and now Android? But the question should be “What innovation are Google offering over the competition?” I’ve no doubt it will be a great open platform, making it easy for new hardware to come to market and encouraging a whole raft of applications, but that really should be a given… With the hind-site of watching Symbian’s development alone over the last few years it should be possible for a half-competent organisation to produce something more elegant and Google has the brains to do a cracking job. But I was hoping for so much more. Where’s the support in ‘the cloud’ that Google excels at that would make an Android phone more appealing than the alternatives?

Take a look here. It’s the ‘Google APIs and Services’ section of the Android site. What do you see? A Google Maps interface and (effectively) a Google Talk interface… and that’s it. Where’s the advertising, calendar, contacts, online storage or YouTube interfaces? Certainly all of those things will be available via the browser for the consumer, probably customised like the current iPhone ones, but that’s not new. Android could have really shaken things up by providing interfaces so that application developers could utilise these services right from the start.

I appreciate Android phones purely tied to Google services would lack appeal, but there’s no reason for any of this to be either mandatory or exclusive to them. Google just need to capitalise on what has already made them world-leaders in so many other areas. Still, here we are - Google are giving away $10 million for the best applications developed for Android and they seem determined to do this with one hand tied behind the development community’s collective backs for no apparent good reason…

I wouldn’t go so far as to say Android is dead, but someone needs to shift it up a gear.

After several companies showed off hardware running Google’s Android OS, the search giant has also gone ahead and updated the SDK. Changes include an updated UI and several smaller tweaks here and there.

I’ve chatted with several people who were at the Mobile World Congress and had a bit of a play with the officially unreleased OS, and most said it was interesting, but not earth shattering. Some even likened it to a featurephone, more than a smartphone, which may actually be a selling point, once handsets actually start hitting retail shelves.

I’ve not been very interested in it personally, as it seems much more like a niche offering than a market-changer, but these updates and reports have me interested. I will be downloading the SDK this evening and will try to give it a play over the next few days.

If you’re impatient and want to play for yourself, you can download the SDK here.

The keen-eyed folks over at Wireless and Mobile News have spotted Google is experimenting with QR codes — which it calls 2D barcodes — in print ads.

The codes can be snapped with a cameraphone and then decoded by QR code reading software. You can encode whatever you like in a QR code, but typically they’re used to convey URLs, contact details or vouchers to your phone. So by printing a code in a magazine, companies can get all their advertising goodies straight to your phone in a couple of clicks.

In Google’s mind, QR codes are a way of bridging the online and offline worlds of advertising - “For advertisers, using 2D barcodes in newspaper ads can be an effective and flexible way to engage with potential customers. The benefit to readers is an easier, quicker way to get more information about businesses that interest them,” it says — like clicking on a URL, only these ones are in your local newspaper.

The search company has already signed up jewellery company Blue Nile as a QR codes customer.

Having tinkered with QR codes a bit, I’m always interested in why they’re not more widely used. The Japanese have been onto them for years, but there’s not much take up outside of Asia, which is a bit of a shame, given they work so well. Mind you, if anyone can get people using them around the world, it’ll be Google.

AT&T has struck with a multi-year pact with Yahoo which will see the internet company’s search and display ads appearing on AT&T handsets, and a new co-branded portal for mobile web users emerge. The deal will also see the pair cosy up with joint services for AT&T’s broadband customers.
The union comes on the back of some interesting announcements at both AT&T and Yahoo of late - the mobile operator just announced a set of quarterly results where it revealed 2.7 million subscribers joined its the fold - the largest quarterly add for any US operator ever - and mobile data revenue up 57.5 percent on the year before. Meanwhile, Yahoo has recently had a change of leadership, with Jerry Yang taking over as CEO, and a restructuring which will see 1,000 jobs lost.
Archrival Google has also been focusing its sights on the mobile world - last week, it struck a deal with DoCoMo. Under the agreement, Google will become the default search for DoCoMo users, Google services will get polished up for i-mode handsets and Google Maps may come preloaded on some i-mode mobiles in the future.WIth mobiles set to become the dominant way of accessing the internet in the future, it’s surprising there aren’t more of these deals being struck, especially in emerging markets.

Google is obviously one of the most popular destinations on the web, and increasingly on the mobile web, despite Yahoo’s best efforts to compete in the mobile arena. Personally, I think that Google’s strength lies in the fact that there’s no download needed to use nearly any Google product on your mobile phone. In any case, according to the New York Times, the iPhone takes its users to Google more than any other smartphone, including Symbian (which is what the vast majority of smartphone users…use).

One thing that is basically a fact - the iPhone truly introduced the masses to the notion of using the internet on their mobile phones. I believe that a large part of this is due to the fact that, at least in the U.S. until recently, users were forced to sign up for an unlimited data package from AT&T when they got their iPhone all activated. If you force someone to sign up for something, and tell them it’s unlimited, the odds that they’re going to try it out are VERY good. That’s not to make an excuse. If anything, I wish that ALL mobile plans simply had unlimited internet built into the price. I bet we’d see alot more innovation in terms of the mobile web and in terms of mobile handset web browsers.

In any case, this news is great evidence that if you make it dead easy to use the internet on your mobile handset, the masses are ready to rock it, albeit just to search Google.

Google and NTT DoCoMo, Inc. will be sharing handsets soon. The search giant has landed a deal to provide internet search and email services on NTT DoCoMo’s i-Mode handsets. Google lags behind Yahoo! in Japan, so this is a really big move for them. NTT DoCoMo is Japan’s leading carrier and will give Google a quick way to really increase market share.

Personally, I don’t much care for Yahoo!’s services, I find them too cartoonish and, well, I just don’t care for them. There’s a large concern growing, however, with Google’s massive store of personal information on consumers. As Google makes it deeper into the mobile arena, I can imagine those concerns become quite a bit bigger.

The FCC has released lists of the applicants for the upcoming 700MHz auction, to take place in January. The auction is for blocks of the 700MHz frequency that will be vacated as the United States moves to mandated digital TV broadcasts.

Interestingly enough, there are 2 lists. The first list is companies that have submitted a complete application and been approved, while the second list is companies that have submitted an incomplete application, and have until January 6th to complete the application. The approved list includes Google, as well as some smaller companies with big names such as Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative and Guam Cellular and Paging. The other list of companies who have only a few weeks to get their paperwork in order includes the big guns such as AT&T, Alltel, and Qualcomm.

I’m anxious to see who comes out on top in this auction, specifically with Google seemingly all ready to rock and the other guys taking their sweet time.

Today Google released an update to its Google Maps Mobile application, and has added support for Virtual GPS. Dubbed ‘My Location’, the new feature uses cell tower triangulation and talks to the towers that you are using at the time. It then displays this information as an approximate location on the map, allowing you to easily figure out where you are, and then use Google’s already powerful Maps Mobile application to see where you want to go.

Google has also put together this fun little video, explaining how it works. Since this isn’t true GPS, the location is not going to be 100% accurate, but at least it gives you a better idea of where you are, and it’s alot easier than being in a strange place and trying to locate your current location for a navigation application.

If you don’t remember, Google recently purchased Jaiku, a micro-social-blogging service that uses a similar feature to update a users location via the mobile client. Hopefully we all see what’s coming next - the ability for advertisers to purchase mobile mapping ads. Since My Location does not require a GPS chip in the handset, it works with nearly any handset on the market.

The video, which you can watch here, states that personally identifiable information is not shared with Google, but what do you think? Is this a bit scary, or incredibly useful?

Google Maps mashups are always fun, and there’s a new one that seems a bit like Twittervision by letting you send an SMS with your location. GeoSMS is a site that lets you send a text message to their number, along with a message of some sort, and they overlay this on a Google Map.

Participating is as simple as sending an SMS to +7909 9213670. Note that while this may be an international number for you, it is not a premium rate number, so your standard SMS rate will apply. All messages that are received are displayed on the Google Map, and update in near-real time.

To show your location, your first SMS should begin with *yourlocation* (i.e. *Fort Worth, TX*) followed by whatever message you want to send. After the initial SMS, there is no need for the location tag, as the system will recognize your mobile number. You can also send an SMS with only your location to update the system, if needed.

All that’s neat, but the REALLY cool part is when you access the WAP-site on your mobile. There is a box to type in your mobile number, and, assuming you’ve updated the system with your location at least once, the site will show you all the messages within a 20km radius of your location.

So how is this useful, beyond novelty? It’s somewhat like having Location-Based Services without GPS, on any mobile handset. Especially through the WAP site, the system could easily be used to connect with people locally. One use that immediately struck me is finding a specific type of business, such as a restaurant or nightclub. These businesses could also broadcast an SMS using this system to draw in local users. An SMS sent periodically from a night club owner’s handset that says “Drink specials tonight, $1 wells” followed by the name of the club and perhaps an address would allow users within a 20km radius easily find the club, and draw in more customers.

What do you think about mashups such as GeoSMS? What other uses can you think of?

Just in case you missed it, definitely worth a look to see what they’ve been cooking:

Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discuss the availability of the SDK, that it will be open source in the future, and demo applications on the Android platform.

Ah, now it begins. Now it starts.

This is more like it. Google’s sticking it’s money where it’s mouth is and no doubt about to garner significant attention from the world’s developer geeks. This is the sort of thing that I’ve been wanting to see for years. More details below.

Link: $10 Million Prize For Google Cell Phone Operating System - News Story - KNTV | San Francisco

Google is offering $10 million in prizes for people who build the best software for its upcoming cell phone operating system.

The Mountain View Internet search leader is developing a free cell phone software package that it says will make it easier to surf the Web over mobile devices.

So it’s a platform. We kind of new this. The chaps at Gizmodo have done a good job at rounding up what’s been announced so far with the gPhone. Useful primer at their site.

Link: Gphone: Everything We Know About the gPhone, Android, and Open Handset Alliance

The details on Google’s gPhone Open Handset Alliance are coming to light. Here’s what we know:
•They’re hoping to make a better phone, ultimately. (And sell a ton of ads and services, of course, along the way.)
•Android, an open system for handset dev, is the first joint project and core product of the alliance.

Ok, so that headline isn’t entirely accurate.

I’ve been tracking the Google GPhone for a while and, well, it’s been a good few days since I’ve blogged anything on it. That’s because it’s getting a weeeeee bit crazy out there. The stories are flying. And they *are* stories. We’re getting to the old-wives-tales level of crazy.

Google are going mobile, there’s no doubt about that. But how? Well, it’s hugely exciting to consider the possibilities.

I think simplicity is key. Everything they’ve done in the past has been simple, simple, simple.

I don’t really want a Google handset. Well, ok, since I’m a geek, yes I do - I’d like to see Google’s take on a device and it’s interface.

As for a Google OS, again, from a geeky viewpoint, yeah, that’d be super.

But really, I just want Google Simplicity.

I want Gmail, I want Google Talk, I want access to the Google platform. I want it all to work, properly.

When I sit and consider the Google applications for mobile, well, the brilliance of them is astounding. Consider, for a moment, Google Talk integration on Blackberry. The best in the world. There isn’t, I don’t think, a better example of mobile instant messaging than Google Talk on the Blackberry.

Google Mail for Nokia — for a whole raft of mobile operating systems — is excellent. Held back only by the limitations of the device. And now, that’s where it gets interesting. If you consider for a moment what a Google designed device could offer, freed from the limits imposed by operators and incumbent manufacturers…

If you’ve got a good few billion dollars in your pocket and you want to hold of the mobile advertising platform — entirely — and you’ve got the confidence of a few more billion dollars arriving each quarter, what would you do?

Would you do a Blyk? Make it partially free? Would you buy Vodafone? Do you manufacture Google handsets and give’em away? Maybe you build a worldwide MVNO.. only to have to compete against the incumbents.

Oh it’s going to be an interesting few years.

Link: Google Mines Mobile Queries, Finds Longer Strings, More Searches, And More Clicks

Gary Price at ResourceShelf points us to an intriguing article appearing in the IEEE Computer Society’s Computer Magazine about mobile search at Google. In the piece, two researchers at Google dissect and mine mobile query logs from WAP-based searches coming through a single (unnamed) U.S. carrier. One million “page view requests” from one month earlier in 2007 were analyzed.

Rather interesting….

–The average mobile query was 2.56 words and 16.8 characters. Smartphone query strings were 2.64 words. (By contrast, PC search strings are roughly 2.5 words.)

–In 2005, users followed less than 10 percent of queries with at least one click on a search result. In 2007, that percentage rose to well over 50 percent. Additionally, the percentage of queries followed by a request for “more search results” increased from 8.5 percent to 10.5 percent.

–The number of queries per session has increased more than 25 percent from 2005.

I’ve no idea how accurate this is…

Link: Google’s Gphone all set for a worldwide launch

IF NEWS is really true, this search engine giant is just two weeks away from the worldwide launch of its much puffed up Gphone.
Google is positioning the concluding events on the mobile-phone project. The so-called GPhone is all about software for mobile carriers and mobile advertisers.

It has been predicted that the GPhone offers an ad-supported phone service in which users watch or listen a 10 to 30 second advertisement before making a call. Typically focused at teens and young adults, the ads would be aimed accordingly. Users would also have an advertisement banner across the top of the screen while browsing the internet. Consumers shall have the choice to have those ads cleared by paying some fees for the service.

Rumour, conjecture and base excitement. The Gphone dance continues with the Herald Tribune reporting that Gphone — as they understand it — is an operating system (based on Linux) and that the search engine giant won’t be releasing hardware into the wild.

Link: With ‘phone’ project, Google has mobile ad dollars in its sights - International Herald Tribune

But the GPhone is not likely to be the second coming of the iPhone - and Google’s goals are very different from those of Apple.

Google wants to extend its dominance of online advertising to the mobile Internet, a small market today but one that is expected to grow rapidly. It hopes to persuade wireless carriers and mobile phone makers to offer phones based on its software, according to people briefed on the project. The cost of those phones may be partly subsidized by advertising that appears on their screens.

Google is expected to unveil the fruit of its mobile efforts this year, and phones based on its technology could be available next year.

Gphone rumours — or news masquerading as rumours — continue to fly around the web. Their possible entrance into the handset business is one that could continue to set cats amongst pigeons after the recent iPhone launch.

Here’s the first news item I’ve come across that specifically mentions that a prototype Google handset exists.

Link: Report: Google shows phone prototype to manufacturers - washingtonpost.com

Google has developed a prototype cell phone that could reach markets within a year, and plans to offer consumers free subscriptions by bundling advertisements with its search engine, e-mail and Web browser software applications, according to a story published today in The Wall Street Journal.

Google is showing the prototype to cell phone manufacturers and network operators as it continues to hone the technical specifications that will allow the phone to offer a better mobile Web browsing experience than current products, the story said.