Google To Sell Phone Directly To Consumers > Wow

said by FBGuy:

yea i've been wondering this as well. if it works on CDMA also then sprint and verizon better be ready.

does anyone know if a carrier can say no to having it on their network. i.e. if you got this phone (and it worked on cdma) and you went to VZ could they not allow you to use it on their network?

said by iansltx:

It's GSM so that's a moot point. Pretty sure Verizon would be fine with the device on their network, and Sprint loves teh Android so they'd probably like it too.

Wonder if a CDMA version will come out anyway for these two providers, since they have combined about 130 million customers.

But, sources say Google’s decision to use GSM came only because Verizon Wireless (VZ), which uses the rival CDMA technology, has so far declined to help the company push the new phone.

Will Google sell an updated developer device that may be called the "Nexus One?" Sure, I can see that, but it wouldn't be a massive consumer play, and it wouldn't "disrupt" the wireless industry.

The nearly hysterical frothing about the "Google Phone" overlooks a whole bunch of existing facts. The T-Mobile G1, after all, was a phone whose software was dictated by Google; it was a "Google Phone." Google has already sold two phones online, unlocked, to developers - the Android Dev Phone 1 (a G1 clone) and the Google Ion (also known as the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G.)

The idea that gets everyone hot under the collar is that Google may sell a phone directly, magically compatible with all U.S. carriers, but somehow without the restrictions and bindings that U.S. carriers place on devices.

What this desire really comes from, of course, is Americans' desperate wish (and it is all about Americans; the rest of the world doesn't have this problem) to see the iPhone on a carrier other than AT&T.

Remember, unlocked smartphones have been available here for years. Nokia has been trying to push them on people for ages. Some of Nokia's phones, such as the N95 and E71, have been excellent. Almost nobody buys them, because they're seen as too expensive without the carrier subsidy.

So as I said Saturday, what's most likely here is that we have a new HTC Android phone which is the flagship for the newest version of Google's Android software, much the way the T-Mobile G1 and Motorola Droid have been. It might also be the flagship phone for the new unsubsidized T-Mobile plans.

It's clear that American consumers want some sort of messiah to save them from the structure of our wireless industry. But it's not going to be Apple, and it's probably not going to be Google, either. If you feel that strongly that you need to be freed from the carrier-controlled system, write to your Congressional representative - that's the only way things will change any time soon.