Will Google 'Switch' Kill the iphone?

Technology websites are abuzz with the rumours of one of Google's newest R&D projects: the Google phone. Touted as the "iPhone killer" in some circles, Google executives have generally been less than forthcoming on confirming the existence of the project, until recently when the Portugal and Spain head of Google confirmed that Google is, indeed, actively working on the Google phone project.

Unconfirmed rumours of a reported leak from the Googleplex have stated that the Google phone will be a smart phone device, much like that of a Blackberry, that runs C++ and uses VoIP protocol. Further speculation states that the Google phone will become available sometime in 2008.

Hushed whispers are also speaking about a possible involvement with Samsung and that the project may be named "Switch". This news comes from Simeon Simeonov of Polaris Venture Partners who stated in his blog that he also had a leaked photo of the device to back up his claims. That post has since been taken down.

In his blog post Simeonov stated that recent (low key) acquisitions made by Google put them into a prime spot for manufacturing a mobile device. The first was the hiring of Andy Rubin, the founder of a company that makes mobile phones and handheld devices. The second was the acquisition of a company named Skia, which makes a portable graphics engine capable of rendering 2D graphics on handheld devices. Third, was the recent Google acquisition of Reqwireless, a company that was integral to the development of Google's mobile apps technology.

In recent years, Google has made great strides in providing very high quality services. It seems that they can do virtually no wrong having launched an email product, a mapping product and a webpage creation product whilst continuing to grow in the primary sector of search. It is predicted that each of these Google Services will appear (in some form) on the Google. With all of these innovations currently taking the forefront of their respective areas, Google could conceivably have a very adept handheld device that integrates them all.

The Google Phone is likely to go head to head with Apple's iPhone as both will predominantly be targeting the tech market and users who are more than familiar with their computing products. The iPhone will be the first to market with its European release slated for later this year. This market lead, plus the drones of Apple fan-boys who will buy the mobile phone regardless of it's feature set, may make it hard for Google to edge into the market. Having said this Google is adept at putting "it's own take" on each of the products it releases, meaning that even if the iPhone and Google phone do share a similar feature set, both devices will handle things in their own unique way.

The other clever element of Google's strategy is its experience with cross-browser compatability. It may be that although the iPhone takes the largest market share, Google's software can be designed to run on the iPhone itself; helping Google to increase it's market share yet further.

Time will tell which of these internet giants will rule the mobile device market.