Google heats up Microsoft battle with new gPhone prototype
By Sindre Lia, 13 November 2007
While Microsoft slowly develops the next-generation Windows Mobile, Google has snagged HTC and Broadcom to create a next-generation prototype for Android already.
Microsoft recently blew off the Android OS as just a press release, which tells us that the Redmond camp was either seeing a serious threat being brought to life here, or they are still utterly incompetent when it comes to seeing the big picture of mobility (where software alone doesn't make anything great).
We recently talked about the fact that Google had teamed up with Broadcom, and today the company showed off a gPhone prototype powered by Broadcom's new multimedia chipset. Although the video doesn't show too much in terms of Web services, it does give a short glimpse into the future of Broadcom enabled multimedia handsets. The fact that Google has already come up with such a prototype, gives the gPhone concept significant credibility.
But the best thing about Google's mobile entry so far, is that they actually do care about mobile hardware in general, while Microsoft has always been rather ignorant when it comes to anything that is not directly related to their proprietary software solutions. In fact, without the great minds of hardware manufacturer HTC, Windows Mobile would have been a disaster for Microsoft.
And there we just mentioned another of Google's great feats; they've simply talked the one company that has made Windows Mobile to what it is today - a widespread mobile platform - into becoming a leader in creating exciting Android based phones.
Are we seeing the start of a soap opera here, or will Microsoft realize that their rhetoric smells of jealousy rather than mobility insight? Anyway, check out the video of Google's gPhone prototype below.
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