Google Gphone still on the way, say sources
Google will definitely launch its own-brand handset but has yet to finalize the handset's specifications, OS, production contractor and operating partners, according to sources at Taiwan handset makers. — Although market rumors previously stated …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Gphone rumor has been building all year: Engadget flagged talk of a year-end launch back in April (Google Phone launching end of 2007?), and by late August the story had hardened into an iPhone-versus-Gphone framing in consumer coverage (Forget iPhone, the Gphone is here). What today's DigiTimes report adds is sourcing — unnamed figures at Taiwan handset makers — plus a telling admission: specifications, OS, production contractor, and operating partners are all still unfinalized.
That gap between 'definitely launching' and 'nothing decided' matters because every party named in the rumor chain — Taiwan ODMs bidding for the contract, carriers weighing partnership terms, component suppliers sizing orders — is being asked to plan against a product Google has not actually specified.
First-order effects
- Taiwan handset makers cited as sources are positioning for the production contract, but with the contractor unchosen they are effectively competing for work whose specs do not yet exist.
Second-order effects
- If the rumor firms up, incumbent handset vendors face an entrant whose economics could be subsidized by Google's advertising business rather than by device margins — forcing them to respond on price and software rather than hardware alone.
Third-order effects
- A confirmed Google-branded handset would push mobile toward an ad-funded access model, where the phone is a delivery channel for services and the operating system choice becomes the strategic battleground.
The trend: Google is extending its search-and-advertising dominance toward the mobile handset itself, with Taiwan's contract manufacturers as the likely production path.