Google, ANDROID, and the 700MHz spectrum…

Google has been showing up in the wireless sector recently and though nothing huge has happened yet, I think the beginning of true wireless competition is about to begin. As you may have heard, the ANDROID SDK was released and MOST handset manufacturers have agreed to develop an ANDROID based handset. The software is completely open source, which is the power behind popular software like Firefox and Open Office. I am not sure Google will ever built a phone themselves, it’s a neat idea, but the phone market doesn’t need more hardware, they need better software architecture. My Treo 700P is a prime example. The hardware is very capable, but the phone is running the same old Palm OS that the last several Treos ran on. The OS is old and tired and apparently Plam thinks it’s perfect.

I expect to see phones coming out in 2008 that run on ANDROID, but the huge news is what is going to happen with the 700MHz wireless spectrum. This spectrum is being put up on the auction block and Google is working putting themselves in the mix. December 3rd is when Google will release it’s plan for the 700MHZ spectrum. So what will Google do? I have read that they currently have setup a wireless service on their own campus as a test bed of the new device platform. Do the perks of working for Google ever stop? What ever they do, I am sure they are going to make an impact on the wireless business. If Google manages to get a piece of the 700MHz spectrum, be sure that they will be passing the value on to the end user because thats what they do. In Utopia, Google will get the 700MHz spectrum, ANDROID will end up on a TON of phones, and the service will be FREE! So you would buy a phone with ANDROID and maybe see a few ads served up by Google, based on usage, in an unobtrusive way.

-Kamen