Vodafone is accepting pre-orders for the HTC Magic, the first full touch-screen phone to run Google's Android operating system.The latest “Google phone” is available for pre-order ahead of its release next month.
The HTC Magic will be available exclusively on the Vodafone network and runs Android, an operating system for mobile phones designed by Google and a host of partners to make it easier to surf the web and carry out complex computing tasks on mobile devices.
T-Mobile launched the first Android-based handset last September, but that phone, the G1, is thought to have sold in modest numbers. The Magic, which is made by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, has already won critical acclaim ahead of its release. It features a large 3.2in touch-screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera, high-speed internet access, push email and satnav technology. Users can also downloads games and software from the Android Marketplace, the Google phone equivalent of Apple’s App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Vodafone has announced that the Magic will be free to users who sign up for a two-year contract worth £35 per month, which includes unlimited web use, 700 minutes of calls, 250 texts, and unlimited calls to landlines and other Vodafone customers.
The HTC Magic will hit shops on May 5, a month before Apple is widely anticipated to unveil its third-generation iPhone at a conference in San Francisco.
The two phones will also go head-to-head with Palm’s new device, the Pre, which has received glowing early reviews from technology experts, and is widely expected to win some users away from the all-conquering iPhone.
Google's rumored possible interest in acquiring Twitter has the online world buzzing, and such a deal would have advantages for both companies. One big question, however, is how a Google acquisition of Twitter would affect Google rivals Microsoft and Yahoo as they attempt to gain market share in the search and online advertising arenas.
The online world has been positively abuzz with news of a potential Google acquisition of Twitter. While the blog TechCrunch has quoted sources as saying such a deal is imminent, others, such as BoomTown, say such talk is the purest speculation.
At the same time, Google could potentially make use of AdSense on Twitter users' pages, exposing Twitter users to contextual ads multiple times per day. Twitter's monetization potential would expand, as the company could receive a substantial percentage of the revenue generated from such ad placements; recently, Twitter has been experimenting with sponsored sites and commercial accounts as ways to generate cash flow.
But what would such a merger do to Microsoft and Yahoo?
"I would certainly see it as a threat to Microsoft, which really needs to provide a boost to its search engine," John Byrne, an analyst at Technology Business Research, wrote in an e-mail. "Differentiating by offering superior search around user-generated content and specifically microblogging could be one way for Microsoft to differentiate its search engine and unlock Google's grip on search."
Were Twitter already bought, obviously, Microsoft would have to look for another company to fill that void; given Twitter's current momentum in the microblogging space, that task could present a substantial challenge.
Acquiring Twitter would also help Google's bottom line (and hurt its competitors) by adding "tremendous stickiness and traffic," according to Karsten Weide, an analyst with IDC.
"Microblogging is becoming an accepted new channel of online communications in addition to e-mail and instant messaging, and it is here to stay," Weide said. "Does [a Twitter acquisition] make sense for Google? They don't really need more audience reach than they already have. But they might need to keep that audience reach out of others' hands. Microsoft and Yahoo come to mind."
Given the relatively low amount of revenue that Twitter generates at this point, however, Weide said he feels it would be prudent for Google to pay as little as it possibly can.
"I think an acquisition would make sense, and if they can get it for less than [$1 billion], the better it is," Weide said.
This contrasts with the view of a number of business pundits online, who have been urging Google to snatch up Twitter no matter the dollar amount required.
As for the potential success of AdSense placed on Twitter feeds, Weide pointed to the former's presence on MySpace, which generates substantial guaranteed revenues for the social networking site but hasn't been contributing mightily to Google's bottom line.
"I doubt [ads on Twitter] would do any better than on MySpace," Weide said.
In other words, although Yahoo and Microsoft could certainly use a microblogging aspect to gain a search advantage, acquiring Twitter might not be the coup de grace that Google needs in order to establish search engine dominance.
Microsoft's deal with ExecTweets, though, shows that Microsoft has an interest in engaging with microblogging as a tool in its online strategy. And should that interest allow Twitter to lever a few more dollars out of Google in any possible deal, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer probably wouldn't complain.
In either case, however, a big question presents itself: how an acquisition of Twitter by Google would affect Google's competitors in the search space and online advertising market, most notably Microsoft and Yahoo.
Twitter has been boosting its search capabilities, including transferring its search bar from search.twitter.com to its main Website and establishing a "Trends" menu to allow users to see in real time the most talked-about subjects on the site. Any deal between Twitter and Google would bring these capabilities under the search giant's roof.
At the end of each year, the blogosphere is flooded with predictions for the next. It’s time for a sneak peak into 2009 for one of the most exciting, and unpredictable, companies in existence — Google.
There are a few things that are almost certain to happen in 2009:
There will be several mobile devices that run the Google Android operating system. Android is currently only available on the G1 for T-Mobile, but that will change soon. By the end of 2009, we’ll see more manufacturers using Android on their devices, including Motorola and Samsung. In addition to the G1, HTC will be launching more units that run the operating system in 2009.
The Open Handset Alliance will grow, and more companies will promise to have devices running the open source operating system. The hype around Android will fuel development, and make the Android Marketplace successful.
Google Apps will continue to gain momentum in the Enterprise The longer the economy stays bad, the more attractive Google Apps begins to look for businesses that currently license Microsoft products. It costs an incredible amount of money to legally run things like Microsoft Exchange and Office in-house. Google’s Enterprise business will grow at Microsoft’s expense this coming year.
Google Chrome makes deal with OEM’s, and snags a significant chunk of the browser market It would be almost impossible for Google to dethrone Internet Explorer in 2009 (or even Firefox for that matter). Google will, however, make a deal with OEM’s to have Google Chrome installed, and set as the “default” browser on new computers. If this happens, it will have a significant impact on Chrome usage in 2009. I’d predict we could see Google snag as much as 10 to 15 percent of the browser market in the coming year.
GOOG will gain some of the ground it lost on wall street Overall, this was a terrible year for Google — just as it was with almost every other company because of the economy. As investors become more comfortable with Google’s dominant position, and the need for companies to keep their online marketing budgets relatively static, the share price should close in the green for 2009 (but of course, if I could accurately predict this type of thing, I’d probably be on a beach somewhere, so take it with a grain of salt).
Things that might not happen, but could include:
Google could launch an operating system In my opinion, this is a quite unlikely, but there have been rumors floating around that somewhere around 6000 employees at Google have been using a secret operating system. This speculation is based on the fact that the user agent for some web requests originating inside Google have been mysteriously removed.
Google might finally launch GDrive I say this every year, but it hasn’t happened yet. I don’t have high hopes for this one, but it’s worth putting out there.
Google may pull the plug on Google Knol The brand new service that had high hopes before its launch has yet to gain any traction. The amount of content, and the number of contributors is simply not where it needs to be — so I’m thinking that there is a decent chance that Google will simply pull the plug on this service. Cost-cutting like never before Google has never been frugal — they used to jump at any opportunity to make their employees happy. The economy may cause Google to cut costs like never before to make investors happy. It will be interesting to see if Google can somehow avoid the layoff monster — they have already let go a bunch of people, but they were temp workers on contract instead of full time employees.
Vodafone is accepting pre-orders for the HTC Magic, the first full touch-screen phone to run Google's Android operating system.
