Last night Michael Arrington from TechCrunch posted an article claiming that he has some magical inside knowledge about an upcoming Google Android phone. He believes that Google will make their own mobile device, with their own Google branding, but that it will be built either by Samsung or LG. Google will then sell this device as something they’ve created. When is this mythical creature supposed to be announced? January.
The same incorrect information was released by Ashok Kumar, an analyst with Northeast Securities, and published by Scott Moritz from The Street, almost a month ago. I had this to say about the Google phone rumour:
“Google would never, ever, make an Android device. That would hurt their relationships with current vendors, it requires a completely different skill set than what any Google employee currently has, and most importantly it would tarnish the image of Android since all other devices would be compared to Google’s hypothetical ultimate smartphone.”
A few days after that article on The Street hit the net, Tom Krazit from C|Net had a chance to speak to Andy Rubin, Vice President of Engineering for Android at Google. He confirmed my sneaking suspicion that Google would never hurt their partners:
“We’re not making hardware, we’re enabling other people to build hardware.”
And he later added Google does not want to “compete with its customers”.
So I’m sorry Michael Arrington, but you’re wrong.
Update: Michael responded to this article on TechCrunch. He says that it’s possible the Google phone is IP only and will work via voice over IP. I still don’t buy it.