The Real Google Phone
Andy Rubin has a team of about 100 people at Google working on the Google Phone. So people have been paying attention. Andy was the founder of Danger and later Android, which he sold to Google in August of 2005. Andy is a systems guy and so it's a good bet …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's mobile effort now has a named shape: Andy Rubin, who sold Android to the company in August 2005 after founding Danger, is leading a confirmed team of roughly 100 people on the so-called Google Phone. The write-up reads him as a "systems guy," framing the project as platform engineering rather than a single vanity device.
The story earned a same-day CNET pickup ("More Google Phone talk"), which says less about new disclosures than about how intently carriers and handset makers are watching any signal out of Google on this front.
First-order effects
- A confirmed ~100-person headcount converts months of rumor into a resourced program: handset partners and carriers now have to plan for a Google-built software stack competing for placement on devices.
Second-order effects
- Carriers that gatekeep handset software face a choice between courting a Google stack and risking that the Android/Danger team pushes distribution through channels they do not control, while handset makers gain negotiating leverage by pointing to a funded Google alternative.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the phone business reorganizes around software platforms rather than operator-controlled hardware — the same logic behind Google buying Android instead of building a phone division from scratch — though how Google intends to monetize the effort is not stated in this reporting.
The trend: Mobile is shifting from carrier-controlled handsets toward software-led platforms, with web companies acquiring their way in — Google's 2005 Android purchase under Rubin being the template.