Posted By thestatedtruth.com on January 5, 2010

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc., aiming to take on Apple Inc.’s iPhone and defend its dominance in Web search, introduced a touch-screen mobile phone called Nexus One and opened an online store for the handset.

The device is 0.45 inches (11.5 millimeters) thick, about the same as the iPhone, and has a larger screen than its rival. The phone costs $179 with a T-Mobile USA contract and $529 without it, Mario Queiroz, a Google vice president, said today at an event at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Google, owner of the most-popular Internet search engine, is boosting investment in the mobile-phone market as growth in its search-advertising business on desktop computers slows. The new device’s voice-activated functions, higher-resolution camera and graphics differentiate it from the iPhone, said Aaron Kessler, an analyst at Kaufman Brothers LP in San Francisco.

Estimating the future market share for the new phone is difficult, though “if they had little single digits by the end of the year, they’d probably be happy,” he said.

The phone runs on Google’s Android operating system, which is also used by phone makers such as Motorola Inc. Google plans to offer other devices using the software at its online store later on. The site is available for U.S. shoppers and Google is testing sales in Singapore, Hong Kong and the U.K.

In addition to T-Mobile USA, which is Deutsche Telekom AG’s U.S. wireless unit, Vodafone Group Plc and Verizon Wireless will offer the Nexus One later this year. Google is in talks to get other carriers on the site.

Compass, Navigation.   Like the iPhone, the Nexus One has a compass and navigation features. The phone was designed with Taiwan’s HTC Corp., which became the first manufacturer to sell Android devices in 2008.

The new device has a 3.7-inch screen, and it weighs 4.6 ounces (130 grams). It uses Qualcomm Inc.’s Snapdragon processor. The iPhone 3GS, which starts at $199 with a contract, is 0.48 inches thick and has a 3.5-inch screen.

The new handset reflects Google’s effort to expand advertising sales on mobile devices, a market that may reach $2 billion to $3 billion in the U.S. by 2013, up from less than $1 billion now, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Full article at…..http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abkClK1HhJa8&pos=6

Categories: Commentary, Economy, Finance, Technology, Wall Street
Tags: