I know a lot of techies think it's dumb for Google to get into the hardware business, but I personally think a Google-branded cell phone would be cool -- quite possibly cooler than even the iPhone.
Work with me here. If there was a Google Phone and you could use your Google sign-in and ID, you could conceivably have a mobile device that's always connected and able to use all of your Google's applications in one place.
From a communications perspective, you would have a seamlessly integrated e-mail, IM, and peer-to-peer VoIP communications client with you anywhere you went. Talk about killer connectivity.
And if the Google Phone included a mobile version of Goolgle Docs you could have access to any number of work or personal documents anytime you needed them. You could work on a document at work, then edit it from your cell phone anywhere.
You could also have a location-enabled cell phone, powered by Google Maps. A Google handset could give you directions to a new place and you could use your Google phone to navigate to your desired destination in real-time.
While Google and Samsung announced a partnership that will take a step towards this ideal, it's still not quite what the Google Phone could or should be.
The more I think about it, the more I am convinced a Google phone -- one that seamlessly integrated most of Google's apps in one place and with an easy-to-use user interface -- could easily take on the iPhone or just about any other cell phone out there. Of course, we have no idea if there will be a Google Phone. But, it's hard to think that Google isn't looking at this, especially given all their recent traction in the mobile space. What do you think?
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