Free mooooooobile calls? 18 Dec 2006

Industry insiders have hinted at a joint mobile phone proposition between Orange (France Telecom) and Google for launch sometime in 2008, according to Sunday's Observer. The Google mobile phone, intended to make it "easy to search the web wherever you are", is expected (by believers) to come loaded with your favourite Google apps, including Google Earth, Gmail, Google Maps, etc.

Could this potential tie-up herald the introduction of free calling plans for mobile phone users, perhaps sponsored by a mobile version of AdSense? Google's Chief Executive, Eric Schmidt, made the connection between mobile advertising and call subsidies in an interview he made last month. And in early September we reported on Google's audio fingerprinting system... Can we expect [should we fear?] a similar system within Google Mobile to target advertising to us based on the nature of our calls? (I shudder to think what Google would offer me were they party to my mobile rants!)