Goophone?

The Hindustan Times recently had an article written by Puneet Mehrotra, a web strategist, who had a lot of good info, a nice recap, and grouped it all together in a summary in the form of Pro’s, Con’s, and indifferent. One of those things was the nick name for the Google gPhone as the Goophone, which, in my opinion, makes it sound like a device, not from Google Labs, but from Nickelodeon labs.

Anyways, onto what really matters, first, Google has reportedly partnered with Vodafone, Samsung, and LG. Another upside is that if Google were successful with their ad-funded platform that would put Google that much closer to taking down Microsoft, to some that’s good, to some that’s not, me personally, I don’t think Microsoft needs taken down, maybe just knocked down a notch or two, anyways, back to Google’s gPhone.

The downsides are cost and the obvious barriers to entry. Even Steve Jobs himself had help from AT&T (then Cingular), but what Google is doing is a very risky game. They already pissed off a lot of people trying to make the entire 700 MHz spectrum open. So now all the carriers they are partners with are only staying with them as long as Google is making them money. Do you really think Google is going to be making other carriers money when they drop their own service and gPhone?

The writer also addressed their thoughts on Google’s approach to press, and the fact that any press, good or bad, is good press because it keeps Google in the limelight. Then they hinted at their suspicions that the gPhone, and/or its services announcements will likely come from Google’s large network of blogs.

Personally, I just wish we could get something, a picture of an actual mock-up, an FCC filing, a manufacturer or Google employee slipping up and saying a little too much, really anything would be great, for now though we have little inklings of news coming in. I really can’t wait for the Google phone or gPhone to rear its beautiful little head. Maybe we will get a sign from an accessory vendor with the listing of a Google Phone category, or maybe a Google gPhone listed under a phone manufacturer’s list, something would be great.