Interviews with Digital Media Thought Leaders

A Second Opinion on the Google Phone

Podcast Audio | Posted by Phil Leigh on November 13, 2007

 
 Standard Podcast [15:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Summary: If you would like to hear a second expert opinion about the implications of the Google Wireless Phone Open Platform, this interview is for you.

Our guest today is Chetan Sharma who is the Founder of Sharma Consulting. His firm specializes in strategy and intellectual property consulting in the wireless industry. Last week we heard from Alan Reiter who is the founder of the Wireless Internet and Mobile Computing consulting firm, and this interview provides a second opinion.  Here are a number of Chetan’s conclusions:

1. Google will decline to bid on the block of 700MHz spectrum that the FCC will auction next year.
 
2. The bidders will likely be the conventional wireless carriers and perhaps some cable TV companies.

3. It will take several years before the Google cell phone operating system, Android, can be widely deployed, if ever.
 
4. Even should Android be widely deployed, each carrier will be able to unilaterally determine just how open their systems shall be.
 
5. Despite number 4 above, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, shall become much more influential in the mobile space. The carriers will no longer have the near dominance that they historically have enjoyed.
 
6. Look for future innovations on the “third screen” to increasingly come from China and India, as opposed to Japan and Korea.

Length: This audio interview is about 15 minutes long.

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  1. [...] me last week on Google’s Android and other industry topics. The podcast is available here. The conclusions he drew from the chat: Our guest today is Chetan Sharma who is the Founder of [...]