Google: Your new phone carrier?

Although Google has done some moves that could allow it to become a player in carrier space, in the current climate it doesn't seem a wise move because of the success of Android.

Given that Android took off better than anticipated, this would be rather risky move for global Android adoption. Carriers still "own" customer contact in most countries. If they decide to be really afraid of Google, they will stop helping Android adoption.

In early 00s, Nokia wasn't that operator friendly compared to other OEMs. This led to situation that operators took less (or didn't take any) Nokia phones to their subsidised selection. This was the main reason for Nokia's bad performance in US.

Then Nokia started licking some juicy carrier butt. Boy it was a shitty time to work in Nokia. Requirement pipe line was filled with all kinds of crazy useless requirements from carriers, and that essentially halted the software development.

I would love to have Google as my carrier. Google is by no means my favorite corp (I trust them less than Microsoft, personally, though probably more than Facebook and Apple), but they're angels compared to Verizon and AT&T.

Becoming a wireless carrier would not play to Google's strengths. Google generally succeeds in markets where they can leverage smart engineers to serve hundreds of millions of users. They tend to fail in markets which require human interaction or physical presence.

Google does, however, have strategic interest in keeping the mobile internet market as competitive as possible. So I would expect them to chip away at the carriers indirectly, much as they use Chrome to chip away at the IE hegemony, or as they use Android to chip away at the iOS.

Seems awfully speculative. Is there anything new since the last time this rumor went around a few years ago?

Personally, I would love to see Google in the carrier business, but it would be a huge risk to their brand/image.

Most everyone loves Google right now. Most everyone hates wireless carriers. So, it sounds like it could be a good opportunity. But there are reasons people hate carriers that are either outside of the carriers' control or too costly to fix completely on a global level (ie. spotty coverage, slow connections, great expectations, etc)

Even if Google became the #1 carrier, their valuable, mostly unblemished image could take a big hit.

Google's ability to simplify/scale technology for the masses (Google search, Gmail) won't help as much when it comes to dealing with frustrated customers on the telephone who want to speak to someone right now.

What a crock. Among other things, the article completely omits what is the biggest hurdle for Google, or any new company, for entering the phone market - infrastructure.

A newcomer has no hope of competing in major metropolitan markets such as New York, SF, Boston etc, without the multi-year process of scouting, negotiating, and installing cell towers throughout the cities. Even in private buildings where planning permission is not needed, many of the prime locations have been snapped up by Verizon, AT&T etc on multi-year exclusive or limited compete leases. "Newer" companies such as Virgin Mobile lease their backbone from Sprint etc for exactly this reason.

I would think Google's wet dream is a world in which ultra-high speed internet access is available everywhere at low or no cost to the user, and I would expect Google to be thinking hard about how to help make that a reality. Today cellular phone companies are our de facto ISPs when we're away from our homes and offices, so I would expect Google to be thinking about how to deal with them or become them or whatever, but that's just an accident of history and there are other ways to make Google's wet dream a reality. Or so I hope...

Why did you change the title? I feel like the original headline was a better description.