while Microsoft still working on Windows Mobile
Google confirmed Saturday (12.12.2009) that it is testing its own version of an iPhone.
In a blog post on Saturday morning, the search company said it is testing a "mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities ..." Mario Quroz, vice president of product management, said in the post that Google has given devices to employees to test it out, but the company is not giving out any more details.
That does not apparently extend to Google employees, who have been Tweeting about the device on Twitter, as TechCrunch first reported on Friday.
The devices are made by HTC and run on Android, Google's mobile operating system, according to the Tweets. Google has already partnered with Motorola and and HTC to sell devices through Verizon and T-Mobile that run on the Android operating system. It's unclear whether this device would be sold through different channels.
If the Google Phone launches in the next few months, this would put Microsoft two steps behind Apple and Google in the mobile space. The company recently released Windows Mobile 6.5, which was soundly criticized in reviews. Here is our story on that. Ballmer has been reported as acknowledging that the 6.5 was a disappointment. Here is the story we ran on that.
A new version of Windows Mobile, 7.0 is expected to come out in 2010, but Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has said Microsoft does not plan to make its own phone, like Apple has with the iPhone.
Ballmer has said he is comfortable with continuing to develop the software for manufacturers to install, rather than making a soup to nuts smartphone from hardware to software. "We're on the right strategy, which is to focus on building the software for the phones, not [building] the phones," Ballmer said at the Microsoft shareholder meeting on Nov. 19. Here is the story we had earlier with those comments.
