There have long been rumors of a GPhone to compete with and possibly cruch the Apple iPhone, but a recent New York Times article by Miguel Helft about the plans Google has for the GPhone have led some who had hoped for an iPhone killer to be disappointed.

The business model for Google is two-fold and always has been: to provide the most relevant results for user search queries and to deliver online advertsiing related to the content on the web. The cellphone market is certainly a different beast, but Google has plans to delve deep into the market and hopes to dominate the delivery of advertisements to wireless devices on the mobile internet platform.

Because the goals of Google are far different from those at Apple we can expect the company to deliver software not hardware. That software would run the hardware devices manufactured by others, but would enable Google to deliver advertising, thereby subsidizing the cost of manufacturing and bringing a lower price point to the consumer.

Google is expected to release the GPhone platform sometime late in 2007, with phones running the system available sometime in 2008.

The one shining star for the GPhone platform may be integration of a better cell

phone internet browser, maps, email and all the applications that the Apple iPhone has bundled which have changed the expectations about what a cell phone ought to be capable of. Whether or not those applications will be Google branded or carrier branded remains a question.

The recent foray between Apple and users who have unlocked the iPhone in order to add third party applications points to a potential lucrative market of people who want the functionality of an iPhone but the freedom associated with PC’s connected to the internet.

Google is not expected to charge carriers licensing fees for the platform which is in direct contrast to the Windows Mobile operating system from Microsoft. By leading the creation of an open source alternative to the Windows Mobile platform Google has a strategy which leverages the power of their advertising revenues to reduce costs to carriers and consumers alike and open the market for ad delivery on handhelds.

Much remains to be seen, of course, of the effect that Google may have on the cellular market but smart consumers are laying in wait of the new mobile OS even if it does not guarantee the end product will actually compete with the iPhone for the “wow factor”.

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