My personal Google & Android conspiracy
I love a decent conspiracy theory – and because it keeps popping up when talking to colleagues here’s my personal pet believe about Google and Android. Your mileage may vary.
My bet is:
- In at most three years Google will be giving away mobile phones for free.
- Including the contract so that you can talk and SMS and … for free.
- Using voice over IP.
Thus totally disrupting the current telecommunications market. And why? Do win over the total control over the mobile market and finally use all the content they control for great effect in everyday life. Imagine a Google “egg” that – besides allowing to talk – will hint towards best prices, navigate through foreign cities, take photos and link them with your Tweets, blog and what else including a means to use Google Earth to follow your path through the day.
Big brother? Yes. Compelling? Somewhat as far as I am concerned.
And yes, I know there are quite a few questions to be solved in order to be able to handle all the data load involved with voice over IP and so on (oh yes, forgot to mention that – VOIP or something similar probably will be the way – there really is no need for two nets – Internet should be enough).
So – laugh at me 😉
Christian Pöcher on February 7th, 2010
VoIP only mobile telephony might be closer than we anticipate as the backend of lots of phone companies work with IP already.
Sascha Steiger on February 11th, 2010
As I said: It makes no sense for Google doing so.
The main reason against:
– it is not possible to change the complete wireless infrastructure into IP-capable access points in only three years. Therefore Google needs a provider with GSM-Infrastructure. I bet that the bigger telecommunication-companies have problems with free phones using their network for free telephony 🙂
Google just wants the user to use as much google services as possible, even if the user is mobile. Therefore they place Android into the market and some other apps on the iPhone. They wouldn’t benefit from people using VOIP. Or do you think they want to place commercials into a call to make it profitable? 🙂
Southern Discomfort on March 13th, 2010
Nerds…
Thomas_Biskup on September 19th, 2010
Yeah 🙂
adancingbear on September 20th, 2010
The would give away free VOIP if under the TOS they could use the data for marketing purposes. They are perfecting voice recogition to text. Once they have text versions of your conversations in their database. Then they can provide even better targeted ads, perhaps as links that appear on your phone after your conversation.
Lukasz on September 21st, 2010
Nice try Thomas, I could agree with most of your theory, but ‘giving away smartphones for free’ part is too extreme. There is no way they could give away expensive handsets and still profit from it.
Hey, about the other part… http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/25/google-introduces-voice-in-gmail/
Free calls to landlines in US and Canada are available from august. With unlimited data plan they are free from cellphone too.