Amzar File

Google phone to be on market soon




www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-14 09:22:18

Google Inc. has designed its own smartphone and plans to sell directly to consumers as soon as early 2010, according to media reports.

The phone, called the Nexus One and made by smartphone maker HTC, runs the search giant's Android operating system and will be sold online, bypassing wireless carriers in a rare strategic move.

Google first announced the phone had been undergoing testing by its employees in a blog post last weekend, and Wall Street Journal confirmed the device and name hours after.

The Internet giant is taking a new and potentially risky approach to selling the device, experts said. Without a mobile carrier partner, Google will ask its consumers to buy the phone online and buy cellular service for the device separately, which the Americans almost never do.

It is a significant move for the Internet giant on the mobile industry potentially challenging mobile carrier partners in the process and shaking up the business model of the mobile industry.

Google hasn't sold hardware in the past and the move may be a big step for the company into direct sales.

BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet)