The “Break it Down” Blog

Thanks to Chris Hunkele for sending this in. Looks like Google Phone is official and will be due out in ‘08. The interesting fun-facts about it:

• Partnership between Google and HTC (T-Mo Dash, HTC Touch, etc.)
• Will include custom version of Google Maps + GPS
• Will include Google Calendar
• Will include Google Mail
• Will include Google Talk (including the VoIP support… so no more need for Skype on your phone)
• Rumored to include custom Google Docs suite functionality
• My guess is that it will include *real* YouTube support

Nothing definitive on the operating system, but a few interesting things to note about that:

• Google works on it’s own branch of Ubuntu called Goobuntu. They have invested themselves heavily in Linux.
• HTC’s devices are historically Windows Mobile-run devices

The core component of the phone (given the functionality list) is going to be the browser component, and we know that’s going to be handled by the Mozilla/Firefox platform… so no way to tell which OS based on that component as it’s happily cross-platform.

I would say, given Google’s investment in YouTube, that Flash-support would be a driving factor in which platform they choose. But with Adobe rockin’ the Linux Flash9 releases right alongside the Windows ones, I can’t say there is a clear winner in that arena.

Also in the vein of YouTube support, one feature I can brain-storm right now is that if the phone can record video, a “Direct Publish” feature right to your YouTube account. That could change the face of YouTube right there. Besides recording the funny antics of your friends, could you imagine protesters or activists or security personel that make use of the phone because of the “Direct Publish” feature allowing them to immediately share something that *just* occured? Imagine someone recording a person breaking into their house and publishing it to YouTube…

It seems rediculous because of how you or I use YouTube right now, but having real-time news, from people’s phones, streaming to YouTube 24×7 would make YouTube the new news outlet of our generation. Forget CNN, forget ABC News, forget MSNBC… how about real-time news, unedited and raw?

I’m curious what this device does for Google as an entity in the world. They are dealing with too much data anymore to be a specific business… they just are now… are-what? I have no idea… Mother Brain?