Will the Google phone be funded by adverts?
There’s no evidence yet that a handset sold by Google may be funded by on-screen advertising. But it seems to be the most plausible way that the numbers will add up.
As yet, Google has not officially announced that the long-awaited “Google phone” will be a reality. However, the firm has confirmed employees have been using “a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities.”
It’s now widely accepted this phone is the HTC produced Nexus One. That handset has passed FCC testing and has already shown up in Web site visitor logs, presumably when being tested by Google staff.
It’s also reported that Google plans to sell the device direct to the public in an unlocked state. That raises the question of money.
One theory, that the phone would be data only (with calls made over Skype-style VOIP services) and thus cheaper to produce and with a lower monthly service charge, appears to be out the window if descriptions of the Nexus One are correct.
That likely leaves a fairly hefty retail price, which even the Google brand power would struggle to overcome. It’s possible that carriers might offer special cut-rate service plans to attract the handset, but even then the prospect of paying hundreds of dollars up-front would kill any chance of mainstream adoption.
And that set of circumstances comes to a theory, based solely on deduction at this stage, that the handset price would be subsidized by advertising. Whether phone users would accept such intrusion in return for a cheap handset is a major question. But a similar system has been used in Germany, and it would explain Google’s $750 million purchase of AdMob.
Given Google’s existing technology, it’s theoretically possible that it could produce the ultimate in targeted advertising. Using the voice recognition tools from Google Voice, it’s perfectly conceivable the firm could run a system by which adverts are selected based on keywords which crop up during your conversations.
But somehow I suspect that might just be a little bit too creepy…
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