Is the Google phone coming soon? Based on this
piece in the Boston Globe the answer is yes. Like the iPhone Google will closely control the manufacturing of the device by third parties. Unlike the iPhone that works only on one service provider (AT&T), the Google phone is open to all providers. The operating system will be developed by Google and open to third parties that would like to develop products for it (unlike the iPhone). Like the mashup environment, third parties would be able to create, experiment, test, launch and track applications. Another interesting aspect would the presence of advertising. Unlike the regular Google ads, this could incorporate location and time in ad provisioning.