| November, 2007 |  |
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Google's GPhone strategy could keep user costs low
Google's (GOOG)widely anticipated - and top secret - GPhone mobile phone project could trump Apple's (APPL) glitzy iPhone - by going low cost and low tech, tech analysts say.
That scenario gained credence last week after the search giant announced its acquisition of an obscure Finnish start-up, Jaiku, holder of key Short Message Service patents. SMS is text messaging, the technology that enables the exchange of short messages between billions of ordinary cellphones.
Google won't discuss details of its GPhone strategy. But it has long been open about its desire to get advertisers to begin sponsoring Google search results on mobile devices just as they do on Internet-connected PCs. It commands 29% of the U.S. market, vs. second place Yahoo's (YHOO) 16%, according to eMarketer. Plunging into the nascent mobile market is "a natural extension," says Ovum analyst Steve Hartley.
Investors love it. Google stock recently topped $600 a share, and some analysts estimate profit may be up as much as 50% from a year ago; Google reports third-quarter results on Thursday.
Jaiku is key to a strategy Google has nurtured. To help its mobile push, it also acquired mobile social network Zingku and amassed expertise by participating in WebKit, an open-source browser development community. And it has expanded "Google SMS," a free service that sends answers to inquisitive texters.
Some bloggers believe the activity is aimed at delivering a cellphone operating system as another option for cellular service carriers and handset makers, as Microsoft has done with the Windows Mobile operating system.
But Richard Doherty, research director at The Envisioneering Group, says Google is driving toward getting device makers to produce basic handsets equipped with a "Gbutton" that takes users right to a Google texting screen. The goal: Get GPhone texters in the habit of querying its vast databases for directions, phone numbers, movie times or restaurant tips and woo advertisers to sponsor GPhone-delivered answers, Doherty says.
Trip Chowdhry, analyst at Global Equities Research, says Google also has already begun designing an advanced GPhone model, equipped with a Google browser optimized to display Google services such as Gmail and YouTube videos.
Aimed at young users, a browser GPhone would probably sell at a fraction of the price of an iPhone, RIM BlackBerry, Palm (PALM)Treo or Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Mobile smart phone, Chowdhry says. One major hitch: Cellphone carriers are insisting on a cut of ad revenue. "The carriers want money any time the phones are turned on, especially if the call is to Google," Doherty says.
Device makers have basic GPhone designs ready to go. Once Google signs an agreement with a launch carrier, "GPhones could flow into the market in a matter of weeks," he says.
Microsoft patches four critical security holes
Microsoft issued fixes for four critical security flaws, including holes that could let hackers hijack computers using a Web browser, in a regularly scheduled update Tuesday.
Microsoft said it was patching four Internet Explorer holes with this one update. The flaws were found in several versions of Internet Explorer, including the most recent IE7.
Two of the four holes would have let attackers put fake content into the address bar of a Web browser — a technique used in phishing scams to convince Web surfers that a fake site is actually their bank, for example.
The other two flaws could have let hackers break into Web surfers’ computers using specially crafted Web pages.
Microsoft gave this four-in-one update its most urgent “critical” rating, is meant to prevent hackers from breaking into Web surfers’ computers using specially crafted Web pages.
“There has always been this escalating arms race” between hackers and security professionals, said Ben Greenbaum, a senior manager at Symantec Security Response. “Lately, the stakes are higher. People are losing actual money due to attacker activities.”
The three other critical patches are also meant to keep hackers from breaking into users’ computers to steal information or install malicious software.
One fixes a problem with the Kodak Image Viewer, formerly known as the Wang Image Viewer, used on computers running Windows 2000 or that were upgraded from Windows 2000. Another fixes a flaw in the way newsgroups are handled by Outlook Express and Windows Mail. The third protects users of Microsoft Word 2000 and 2004, and Office for Mac 2004, from malicious Word documents.
The software maker also issued four “important” patches — the second-most-urgent rating — related to Windows, Office and Sharepoint.
Windows users can visit Microsoft’s security website to get the updates, or configure their computers to automatically update each month.
| November, 2007 | |
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