Google, Verizon Team Up To Challenge The iPhone: Bing Could Benefit (UPDATED)

NEW YORK — Verizon Wireless said Tuesday it will put substantial resources into developing and selling phones that use Google Inc.'s Android software.

Verizon Wireless had already said it would sell Android phones, but the announcement suggests that the carrier is positioning these "smart" phones as a main means of competing with Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which is exclusive to AT&T Inc. in the U.S.

Verizon Wireless and Google said they plan to "codevelop" Android-based devices that will be pre-loaded with their applications. They will be made by major manufacturers, they said.

The carrier now expects to sell the first Android phones in a few weeks, it said. It has already said it will be a carrier for a new smart phone from Motorola Inc., which is releasing several new devices based on Android software as a part of its turnaround effort.

The announcement adds to the momentum behind Android, which is seeing significant interest from carriers and manufacturers. Sales of the few existing Android phones have been small compared to the iPhone's, however.

Rival carrier T-Mobile USA came out with the first phone based on Google's operating system last year. It recently announced that it will carry Android phones from Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola. Sprint Nextel Corp. is also set to release an Android phone.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. of New York and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.

UPDATE: Microsoft could be a beneficiary of Google and Verizon's new partnership, given that the company has a 5-year deal with Verizon to power its search and mobile advertising. This means that Bing, not Google, could be the default search engine on some of Verizon's Android phones. Business Insider explains:

Google is traditionally the default search engine on Android phones. But Microsoft's Bing could replace Google as the default search engine on some of Verizon's Android phones, we have confirmed with the carrier.

Why is this positive news for Microsoft? Depending on how good the devices are, and how Verizon prices data plans for them, Microsoft may even get more mobile searches performed per user, per month on a Google phone than the average Verizon handset.

Comments

[bernusdellus]

As a musician and artist, Apple changed my life substantially in 1986.

In the years between then and now, I've been constantly amazed at how obtuse the major players in the IT industry can be.

Here's the latest leap into second-rate technology. "We have Android". "We have Bing". "We are huge corporations with huge clout".

They just don't get it.

The thing that Apple [or at least Steve Jobs] does which cannot be beaten is this... "We have a computer user. What does he/she want? How can we best deliver that in a way that's completely intuitive and that enhances the abilities of the user?"

Apple derives its technology from the needs of its customers. Everyone else invents stuff and comes up with corporate ways to sell it to you.

As usual, Apple wins. As for me... You can pry my iPhone from my cold, dead hands.

[SteveDenver]

Good luck to them. Apple was stupid to align with AT&T, and after last month's debacle where user information was swapped between unfamiliar account holders, NOBODY wants AT&T.

[JohnSawyer]

One of the main reasons Apple went with ATT, is that it was the only carrier that conceded to Apple's demand that iPhones purchased through ATT would not impose its presence anywhere on the iPhone except via a tiny ATT logo in the upper left corner of the screen--no ATT apps, gimmicks, etc. All the other carriers wanted a carrier-branded iPhone, but Apple practically always wants to control the branding of their products. There's reasonable argument whether this one requirement was a useful tradeoff for the user, versus simply being an advertising coup for Apple.

[verticallychallenged]

Crap. I was hoping Verizon would finally make an iPhone deal with Apple. I want an iPhone, but I don't want to give up Verizon. I thought that was in the works.

[KarateKid]

These articles crack me up. We use what we use because we like it, not because someone says it's cool. I happen to own an iPhone and love it. I've not had the problems with AT&T as some have.

It's silly to criticize anyone for what they use. If someone wants to use Palm Pre, I say, go for it. But to call it an iPhone _killer, that's hyperbole.

The haters in these tech blogs need to get a life.

I also own a PC AND an iMac, and both machines are great. Live and let live, guys.

[JohnSawyer]

Too many people like to root exclusively for their "football team", thinking it brings them some kind of extra authority, instead of realizing it's a case of trying to live through other people's accomplishments.

[KarateKid]

Notice how they refer to their sports team as "we won yesterday" or "we need another starting pitcher"? It's kind of disquieting, to be honest.

[sportwarrior]

How does Verizon reconcile that they're looking to use one of the most user friendly, accessible, open source OSes for phones on perhaps the most restricted, feature locked carrier in the business?

[Quinton Cartwright]

Besting the iphone is so much easier said than done. Other than a slide out QWERTY, what doesn't the iphone do? I guess it could be a remote.

[mpabner]

With the right application http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/productivity_tools/remotebuddy.htmll) it can be a remote!

[JohnSawyer]

Regarding phone keyboards: I prefer a virtual, onscreen keyboard (as the iPhone has) to other phones' physical keyboards (at least the ones I've tried, which is most of them, in various stores). Before I got an iPhone, I debated with myself over which type of keyboard I'd prefer. I was afraid that tapping on the iPhone's virtual buttons would result in poor feedback, difficulty in hitting the proper keys, spelling errors, etc. Then a friend gave me an iPhone 2G with a cracked screen (which I plan to repair), and I began using its onscreen keyboard. At first I felt uncomfortable with it, and had the problems I anticipated. But as I got used to it, I found myself typing fairly quickly on it, and making fewer mistakes. Then I decided to go back to the stores to try the physical keyboards on other phones. I found the only way one can type on them, since the buttons on all the physical keyboards offer some resistance to produce a feedback click, is to type more slowly, apply more force to pressing each button, etc. I found typing on a phone's physical keyboard to be very tedious by comparison with the iPhone's virtual keyboard. My fingers "fly" over the iPhone's virtual keyboard, compared to another phone's physical keyboard. I still make some typing mistakes, but correcting them is usually pretty quick, and I usually save more time even though I have to make a few corrections.

[KarateKid]

You discovered what I discovered. It did take a little practice because the response was immediate.

[wsuvtx]

Not a big deal. Unless the iPhone is offered through Verizon I will never own an iPhone. No wireless carrier can stand up to Verizon, especially not AT&T.

[Ganapati]

Challenge the iPhone how many years after it came out?
Come on, use another word, but "challenge"? with a product that is a copy of the original?
Geez... great market strategies!

[Reader451]

Challenge a company that arrogantly decides for you what you use your phone for?

Will google stop people from working for health reform like Apple does? Apple refuse to let you work for health reform on "their" phone because its too political.

I look forward to the day when landlords and banks start dictating, like Apple does, what political party you can send money to, and what policy you want to demand from your congress person, like Apple does.

Oh yes, I want strong challenges to Apples closed proprietary systems, I want challengers to companies that "control" your tools so they and their profit. Heck I want it done often and in many ways. Legal challenges, economic challenges, philosophical challenges and political challenges should all complement the basic technological and software challenge to that clever pretty device they let you use, but not own, and only to use it as they see fit.

[openhand]

I just want to get on with my work, and have a phone manufacturer resolve the software, hardware and the connection to my laptop, apps well, with a user interface that is intuitive. I am tired of groups promising too much and delivering too little. I don't rely on my phone to change the world, thats what I want to do, it is just a tool. I am really not intersted in programming it and re programming it. As for Apple dictating who I can send money too, please post a reference.

[verticallychallenged]

"Apple refuse to let you work for health reform on "their" phone because its too political.­"

Please back up that assertion with some links or other factual information, please. I don't know what you're talking about.

[MarcusT]

Thats what everyone said when Microsoft stole CP/M

[kkrimmer]

good luck... the iPhone is more than just a phone, it's a platform.

it won't effect the iPhone any more than Linux will replace Windows

[koppenberg]

> the iPhone is more than just a phone, it's a platform.

That's the whole point of Android--it is an alternative platform, not just a copy cat phone with a big touch screen but no extensible plaform underlying it.

But your analogy to Linux and Windows (or Mac and Windows for that matter) is apt.

[MarcusT]

Linuz IS replacing windows.

[proudloudlib]

good luck with that! I LOVE my iPhone.

[rotomangler]

And the feds love your personal data

[Reader451]

And Apple loves its control over your political activity.

[saynotocults]

I love my iPhone as well. Naysayers comments are moot.

[Gover]

The thing that annoys me about every Android phone so far is that none of them have a good amount of internal memory and you have to rely on expansion cards to store everything.

I'm going to agree to that about as quickly as I'm going to agree to lug my music around in a sack filled with cassette tapes.

[Realityism]

This comment blows my mind. Are you actually complaining about having upgradeable storage?

You realize you don't have to carry 16 different 1GB SD cards around with you, right? Just buy a 16GB card and leave it in the phone. It's usually cheaper than paying for a phone that has 16GB more internal storage, and you can buy an even bigger card in a year when the prices come down. It beats buying a new phone.

[jabreal00]

Your comment equally blows my mind. That is the point of the iPhone, reducing the need to have to buy external storage. 16gigs costs anywhere from $40-100 and that's on top of the cost of the phone. Most smart phones are $100-200 with a contract. The best thing about the iPhone are the apps, which take up little space. Verizon has better service than ATT. However their phones blows. These Android phones are just not compelling enough to convert me from the iPhone.

For disclosure I was an eight year Verizon customer who was initially reluctant to get an iPhone. However, after their junky phones kept breaking I decided I had enough.

[iowaliberal]

So does this make Verizon more or less likely to pursue the iPhone 4G when they roll out their new network technology next year as rumored? Why not try to corner the Android market and score the iPhone? That would probably guarantee a dominant share of the market for awhile.

[DonPMitchell]

The Google phone and the Palm Pre and Microsoft's Pink are all intersting looking phones, but they are going to lose to iPhone because of apps. The same reason that Mac lost to Windows decades ago.

[Realityism]

Android can best iPhone in apps, and they will do so quickly. As a developer, I can tell you that it is much more appealing to develop for Android than for iPhone. It requires less of an investment up-front, it's easier, you're not locked into a single company's app store, and Android phones are being released in droves.

There's a lot more money to be made in the Android software market, so developers are flocking to it. The applications gap is very temporary.

[MarcusT]

Any idea how quickly those apps port?

[hackerblaster]

I am not a mac head but I damn sure love my iPhone. It is just totally awesome.

[Reader451]

What I like about Apples awesome control of apps, is how it works against health reform by preventing apps that they deem 'too political'

Apple: Use OUR PHONE(!) for political purposes!? NO!!!

You: "But I thought this was my phone?"

Apple: No we decide what you can use the phone for.

[openhand]

Thanks to Apple, the control of phone design has been taken from the cold dead hands of the service providers and placed in the hands of software and hardware wonks who are making real changes, real progress. Change and progress, I like that.

[Reader451]

See above for their taking control out lots of hands, even your own.