Google Phone Project

Google is working on a basic mobile phone to bring online advertising expertise into the handheld market Google is working on a basic mobile phone to extend its dominance in internet advertising to handheld devices, according to analysts.

Richard Windsor, of Nomura, the broker, said that Google representatives had talked about a device at an industry event in Germany. The report followed remarks by a Google executive in Spain, who admitted the company is working on a handset.

"Google has come out of the closet at the CeBIT trade fair admitting that it is working on a mobile phone of its own," Mr Windsor wrote in a research note. "This is not going to be a high-end device but a mass market device aimed at bringing Google to users who don't have a PC."

It is also known that executives from Orange, the mobile operator owned by France Télécom, were recently invited to talks with Google in Silicon Valley.

Sources described the session, which took place around six months ago, as a "brainstorm" and a probe into "early stage concepts".

Industry experts said that a Google move into mobile would most likely centre on some sort of "mvno" (mobile virtual network operator) deal under which the internet search giant would partner up with an existing handset maker and use the network of an existing mobile operator, such as Orange.

Google would provide the operating system and have its brand on the handset. HTC, the Taiwan-based manufacturer, is deemed the most likely handset partner in part because it delivers a "white-label" service under which it will manufacture handsets under any brand name.

A Google spokesman today declined to comment on whether the company is working on its own handset but said that "mobile is an important area for Google". He added that Google remained focused on creating applications for mobile phones and "establishing and growing partnerships with industry leaders".

There have already been a string of reports suggesting that Google is preparing to enter the hardware market.

Via: Google

Woolmer 'murder' mystery

Woolmer 'murder' mystery

Police investigating the death of Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, have seized CCTV footage from the hotel in Jamaica where he was staying. Speculation about the final hours of the former England Test cricketer has reached frenzied levels since an inconclusive post- mortem examination prompted the announcement that his death was being treated as “suspicious”. There were even unconfirmed reports last night on Jamaican television that Woolmer’s death was caused by strangulation.

Woolmer’s room on the twelfth floor at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, in which he was found unconscious and sprawled across the floor on Sunday, was still sealed off last night as forensics experts hunted for clues. Sources close to the investigation confirmed that security tapes showing the area outside his room are being examined to determine who might have visited before he was discovered by a maid at about 10.45am.

There have been claims that Woolmer, 58, was murdered by match-fixers within hours of his team’s defeat at the hands of Ireland, the biggest shock in the history of the World Cup. Pakistan cricket has an infamous association with illegal betting rings and among those fanning the flames yesterday was Sarfraz Nawaz, the former Pakistan bowler, who said: “I surely feel that he has been bumped off.”

Rohan Powell, a reporter with TVJ Jamaica, said: “I made contact regarding the ongoing investigation and I was informed that the police will reveal that the cause of death was strangulation. I am unable to say who gave me the information as obviously I had to guard my source — but that’s what I’ve been told and my source is very reliable. I am also informed that there were marks on the body and there are pictures around.”

Jamaican police neither confirmed nor denied the reports, and Karl Angell, a spokesman, said: “The official position remains the same — that we cannot make any announcement until we receive the report of the pathologist.”

The Pakistan team and officials are still to learn whether they can leave Jamaica as scheduled at the weekend. Senior officers, including Mark Shields, the Jamaica deputy commissioner of police, spent yesterday discussing the progress and direction of the investigation and the decision is likely to be made jointly with the coroner in Kingston.

Woolmer contacted his wife, Gill, in Cape Town via an e-mail sent at 3.12am on Sunday. It was his last known communication with anybody.

In an exclusive interview with The Times, Gill Woolmer has revealed that her husband was “really depressed and that he could not believe how Pakistan’s defeat to Ireland had happened”, but that reports he had been drinking heavily and was on prescribed drugs for his type 2 diabetes were “rubbish”. He had not received any threats and had had no contact with anybody wanting to involve him in match-fixing or with bookmakers, she added.

“The Pakistan team’s poor performance affected him as much as any other big tournament that he lost as coach of South Africa. He believed that what happened was in the past and one had to move on,” she said. “I did not go to Jamaica because the rules of the Pakistan board do not allow wives and girlfriends to accompany the team until the semi-final stage. Now I don’t see any point in going as it is a long flight. The doctors and the Deputy Chief of Police and the board are handling everything very efficiently.”

Woolmer’s family are also waiting for details of when his body will be flown back to his home in Cape Town. They are unable to plan his funeral until given clearance by the police.

In a bizarre and tragic turn of events in Jamaica, the Irish Cricket Union revealed that its former president had died of a suspected heart attack. Bob Kerr collapsed at the Sunset Grand Hotel on the north coast of the island early yesterday.

Via: Google Source:timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article1550971.ece