mobiThinking thought we should follow up on (aka pinch) an article about the Google Phone. We spotted it in the periodical email our shamelessly techie big-sister-site mobiForge (previously known as dev.mobi) sends out the mobile developer community.
This perfectly titled article, The Google Phone Cometh (so what)?, is submitted by someone at Adobe (it’s written for developers, but is largely understandable by mortals). It coincides with the first of thousands (no doubt) of reviews of the G1, as embargos were lifted last week.
If you have been fortunate enough to miss the hype, the G1 is a smart phone from Google that runs an (‘open’, we’re told) operating system called Android. T-Mobile is promising US customers the phone from November 10. Elsewhere, T-Mobile sites aren’t giving release dates.
So what do mobile marketers need to know about the G1? If you’ve got the answers, please let us know.
- 1. Will my site have to be re-jigged to suit yet another device and mobile internet browser?
The conclusion on mobiForge.com is: business as usual until we see if the phone takes off. The browser is believed to be based on WebKit (the roots of many mobile browsers), so if your developers are concentrating on making the site look good through WebKit, iPhone and Nokia S60 browsers, things should look ok on the G1.
2. What is Google up to?
Plenty of speculation on this question. San Fran-based Mobile Marketing Watch believes this is Google’s bid to dominate mobile advertising.
Others suggest that this is Google’s bid to get into the corporate market. However, as mobiForge.com points out, business customers aren’t going to be impressed that it doesn’t support MS Exchange (corporate email).
3. What does ‘open’ software mean?
This makes it easier for developers to write applications to run on the G1…well, less restricted than Apple’s iPhone (according to this review. We’ll have to see whether many developers will take the bait, or whether this will bring any nifty utilities that are good for your site.
4. Other opportunities for marketers?
This reviewer at the Associated Press liked the “Barcode Scanner” that reads product barcodes on packaging etc and links you to related web searches.
5. Anything Else?
Please comment below.
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