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The ethereal Google Phone could arrive as early as January 5 on T-Mobile's network, according to a report.

Google could start selling the Nexus One directly to consumers on January 5, according to a new report.

(Credit: Cory O'Brien via Twitter)

That's according to TmoNews, a blog that obsessively tracks the movements of T-Mobile. It says it has obtained an internal training document that mentions the Google Phone, thought to be the Nexus One phone distributed to Google employees earlier this month.

In the document, T-Mobile informs its employees that "the Google Android phone will be sold solely by Google via the Web," backing up other reports that Google is about to make a radical departure from its previous phone strategy and "compete with its customers," something Google Android chief Andy Rubin had said the company was not interested in doing.

The document makes no mention of timing, but TmoNews said its sources believe the phone will launch on January 5 at 9 a.m., just before the major CES trade show gets underway in Las Vegas (we presume that's 9 a.m. Pacific time, but the document didn't stipulate the time zone). Engadget reported a similar launch date last week.

We still don't know what the Nexus One/Google Android phone will cost, or even whether sales of the phone will be limited to a small number of registered developers, as Google as done with two previous phones. However, it's hard to believe that T-Mobile would need to gear up for the launch of a phone sold in very limited qualities.

Ever since Google said it had no plans to sell its own phone directly to consumers in October, it has refused to comment on its Android strategy as reports it was about to do just that have built. A Google representative did not return an e-mail seeking comment on Tuesday.

As a company that has built a business model atop trust, Google is in a sticky position as it prepares to formally introduce the Nexus One phone.

Google's Nexus One phone could be a sea change in how Google works with Android partners who might turn into competitors.

(Credit: Cory O'Brien via Twitter)

Google employees were given free Nexus One phones at a company party Friday night, and the Internet went into a tizzy. Reports surfaced later in the weekend that this device was the long-awaited Google phone, the company's answer to Apple's strategy of controlling the hardware, software, and distribution model with the iPhone, rather than the partner-oriented strategy of developing the guts of the operating system and letting partners each put their own stamp on the finished product.

Just two months ago, Google's Andy Rubin rolled his eyes when asked about an analyst report picked up by TheStreet.com that said Google planned to pursue this exact strategy. He said Google had no plans to make its own hardware--which is one thing since smartphones are almost exclusively manufactured by contractors in China and Taiwan--but he took a further step in spending about 10 minutes arguing why it would be a bad idea for Google to design its own phone and sell it outside of carrier channels.

That line of thinking resonated with many who follow Google and the mobile industry. After all, Google's stated goal for Android ever since the project was revealed in November 2007 was to create an "ecosystem" of multiple phones that would help improve access to the mobile Internet. And Google seemed to finally reach that goal this year, with over a dozen phones in the wild and more promised from some of the world's leading phone makers and wireless carriers.

But if the reports are correct, Google is about to make a radical departure from that strategy. And Google's new course would take it down a path that could sow distrust among the company's Open Handset Alliance partners, who must now be wondering if they're about to get into a marketing war with one of the tech industry's richest companies.

Katie Watson, a Google representative, said on Sunday that the company has confirmed nothing about its plans for the Nexus One, described as a "dogfooding" experiment for internal testing by the company in a blog post Saturday.

In the rush to anoint the Nexus One as the Google Phone, it's quite possible that the tech industry glossed over the fact that Google already sells Android phones, albeit on a limited basis. For quite some time, registered Android developers have been able to buy completely unlocked versions of the G1 and the T-Mobile MyTouch3G (also known as the Google Ion) for $399.

Google does sell some phones, such as the Google Ion, but only to developers for Android testing purposes.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

So there is a solid chance that the Nexus One is merely the Android Dev Phone 3, following the Dev Phone 1 (G1) and Dev Phone 2 (MyTouch or Ion). Just this year, Google handed out Dev Phone 2 models branded as the Google Ion to attendees at Google I/O 2009, but if regular people want to buy that particular phone they have to get the MyTouch3G from T-Mobile with a two-year contract.

It does seem clear that Google has played the premier role in designing the software for the Nexus One. In the company's blog post over the weekend, it said "we recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe."

But the key unconfirmed detail is how Google plans to sell this phone. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google plans to sell this phone unsubsidized on its own, with consumers able to choose a wireless service provider after the fact. However, according to corporate sibling Peter Kafka at All Things D's MediaMemo and Reuters, Google has plans to hook up with longtime mobile partner T-Mobile to help sell the Nexus One through Google's Web site for $199.

How will Google market this phone? Anyone with a television set has likely seen an ad over the last month for the Motorola Droid, an Android phone sold for Verizon's network that has been billed as one of the best Android phones to date. It was also the launch pad for a long-term pact between Google and Verizon that will supposedly produce a family of devices based on Android.

If Google plans to sell the Nexus One directly to consumers, will it insist upon using its brand as the lead brand, rather than the "With Google" branding found on the back of many Android phones? Will it blast the airwaves during the NFL playoffs in January to trumpet the arrival of the Nexus One, perhaps just in time for the Super Bowl? And how will that affect partners such as Motorola and Verizon that have sunk so much money into promoting the Droid, only to see rumors of a Google Phone leak out at the worst possible time: the height of the holiday shopping season?

This could be a very telling moment in Google's history. At the moment, Google's mobile division does not seem to be completely in control of the message it wants to send consumers, partners, and competitors.

If Google really does plan to sell the Nexus One directly to consumers and compete with its customers, it has chosen an interesting way to announce it to the world, keeping the Google Phone rumor mill alive for months while publicly denying such plans. Apple has employed such a marketing strategy for years, insisting on near-silence regarding future product plans but benefiting enormously from the frenzy of interest in every little morsel that mysteriously pops up regarding those plans.

However, Google is not Apple. Google public-relations representatives will sheepishly admit that they have little control over how Google rolls out its products: Google is a company run by engineers, and engineers push the button when the product is ready to ship.

But when you're working in an environment with multiple partners that have competing interests, any confusion over your future plans--especially plans that would appear to yank the floor away--can breed distrust among those partners. One of Google's largest problems right now is that it has built a business model geared around the notion that it can be trusted with almost unprecedented control over the flow of information across the globe, and any cracks in that wall of trust will be exploited by its enemies.

With the way details have trickled out about the Nexus One, Google has either alienated current and future Android partners by muscling in on their turf, or set up thousands of eager smartphone consumers looking for an open alternative to the iPhone for disappointment when they realize Google merely plans to sell an expensive unlocked phone to a limited audience, if at all.

After all, Google essentially declared in its blog post that employees are testing a product with "new mobile features and capabilities" that presumably can't be found on the current crop of phones. It's almost the same language Google used to introduce Chrome OS ("our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be") while insisting that it had no competitive reasons for introducing that Netbook operating system.

Few believed that line with Chrome OS, and fewer still will believe that Google is creating Android for the betterment of humanity if it really plans to sell its own phone.

Google Mobile App receiving search from voice.

(Credit: Google)

A new version of Google Mobile for the iPhone is now available in Apple's App Store, the search giant announced in a blog post Wednesday.

According to the company, the improved application features a redesigned search results page, with more results than in the previous version. The app also opens Web pages from those results within the program, which Google says should help users get where they want to go sooner.

To make the app more customized to the user, Google has also made its Bells and Whistles feature more prominent in the new Google Mobile version. Users can change the color of Google Mobile and turn on a moving waveform when users search by voice.

(Credit: Skyfire)

The Skyfire mobile browser has gone through some dramatic design changes in the last year. The most recent version released on Wednesday continues to adjust Skyfire's visual composition--as well as its guts and performance--on Windows Mobile touch-screen and standard phones.

The changes to the navigation menu was the first thing we noticed when we booted up Skyfire 1.5 on an HTC Touch Diamond 2. Skyfire has replaced the Menu key and back button navigation with gray, balloon-like buttons that strike us as a hybrid of Opera Mobile browser and Internet Explorer Mobile. The back arrow, Home screen button, zoom control, favorites tab, and Options icons are more finger-friendly for sure, and take a cue in both looks and content from Skyfire's two strongest rivals. We also spotted two unfamiliar tabs at the top to show your recent searches and popular queries overall.

Also like Opera Mobile browser, Skyfire 1.5 gets a welcome Full Screen mode--for touch-screen users only--that you can access from the Options icon on the navigation bar. Tap it to enter full-screen mode, which hides the nav bar so you can see more screen. Tapping the screen again shows the single Options icon, from which you can exit full-screen mode.

Skyfire has not been idle behind the scenes, either. Version 1.5 has updated to Flash 10 and Silverlight 1.5, the latest stable versions of Adobe and Microsoft software for delivering rich media, like videos. Skyfire also introduces full native support for VGA and wVGA resolutions on Windows phones, smooth scrolling, and new behavior for the text field that keeps it visible on touch-screen phones when the virtual keyboard is engaged. Skyfire also boasts faster speeds, thanks to improvements to its server.

You can download Skyfire for free by pointing the mobile browser to get.skyfire.com, or can download Skyfire for touch-screen and non-touch phones via your desktop.

Mozilla is wrapping up work on its first version of Firefox for mobile phones, an important step in bringing the second most popular PC browser to an area where a rival project holds more influence.

"Our goal is to have a release candidate next week," said Jay Sullivan, Mozilla's vice president of mobile. "If things go smoothly, we'll have a (final) version out in the next few weeks," with the debut planned for this year, he added.

Mozilla has been a leader in advancing the Web state of the art. But when it comes to the mobile phones, where the power of a new generation of hardware has transformed browsers from primitive afterthoughts to useful tools, Firefox has been missing in action.

Instead, an open-source project called WebKit powers the browser on the higher-end mobile phones du jour--Apple's iPhone, the Palm Pre, and Motorola's Droid and other models running Google's Android operating system, with BlackBerry headed that direction, too.

In contrast, the first mobile Firefox version will run on Nokia's powerful but relatively obscure new N900, a $569 hybrid computer and mobile phone that uses Nokia's Linux-based Maemo operating system. A Windows Mobile version of Firefox is set to arrive next year, and Mozilla has begun working on an Android version now that Google released a native developer kit.

Firefox has one big thing going for it, though: it's a close relative of the PC-based browser that today is used by about a quarter of people on the Web.

The link extends beyond brand familiarity. For one thing, mobile Firefox is based on the same code as the present Firefox 3.6--also a beta version due to finished by the end of 2009. For another, through a Mozilla service and browser plug-in called Weave, mobile Firefox synchronizes bookmarks, passwords, and even open tabs with the desktop version of the browser.

In addition, Firefox for the N900 can run many Firefox extensions--AdBlock Plus among the 30 or so now available. Sullivan recommends updating their interfaces for the small devices, though.

Nokia partnership
Mozilla has been working closely with Nokia to develop Firefox on its N900 handset. It already ships with a lighter-weight browser that uses the same Gecko code base as Firefox, but the full Firefox mobile version--a project code-named Fennec--is more powerful.

"You want to put the desktop experience into a pocket-sized device," said Ari Jaaksi, vice president of Maemo devices. "What do people use on the desktop? Firefox."

However, Firefox won't ship with the device, at least initially. The company is open to the idea of including it in the next version of the operating system, due in the second half of 2010, Jaaksi said. Mozilla, meanwhile, is comfortable with the idea of people having to actively download the browser, the most common way Firefox has been distributed on PCs.

The N900 is available as an unlocked device through various retail channels, but Nokia doesn't yet have any partnerships in the United States with wireless service carriers who might help bring the N900 to a broader market. It's a relatively powerful device with a 600MHz processor and 3D graphics hardware--enough oomph to run Adobe Flash on Web pages today. Its price may seem high, but bear in mind that unlocked devices don't get a subsidy by carriers that expect to see their up-front payment returned over months of subscription payments.

Nokia's N900 will be the first device that runs the mobile version of Firefox.

(Credit: Nokia)

So does Firefox require this level or horsepower?

"We need pretty high-end stuff to make the Web great," Sullivan said, but not so high-end that the N900 is the only handset to fit the bill. "Everything now on the mid- to high-end is fine."

WebKit has intercepted the newer generation of smartphones. Through the wonders of Moore's Law, new devices get steadily more processing power and memory. So aiming for today's top-end phones can mean software will work on tomorrow's mainstream models.

The N900 is at the top end of the range, but Firefox runs elsewhere, too. The Windows Mobile version of Fennec is in alpha testing now, lagging the Maemo version by about three or four months, Sullivan said. Mozilla plans to release it in final form in the first half of 2010, he said.

Firefox: like an operating system?
Mozilla has a lot of plans for mobile Firefox that, to some extent, put it in opposition with Nokia. The N900 is aimed in part at programmers who want to low-level control over a device through its Linux operating system. But Firefox--like Google's Chrome--is assuming the role of a general-purpose foundation for running programs.

"We're almost an operating system," Sullivan said.

Several features support the direction. Built into Firefox now is geolocation, which lets a Web application tap into the phone's services to figure out where a user is and, for example, show a map of the nearest pizza shops. Also included is support for orientation detection, important for games, and offline data storage, important for a variety of programming needs.

There's more on the way in 2010, Sullivan said:

• Support for multitouch displays for a more sophisticated user interface.

• Support for haptic feedback, such as the phone vibrating when a virtual keyboard key is tapped.

• The ability to control a camera.

• Support for Electrolysis, Mozilla's project to split tasks such as the user interface, tabs, and plug-ins into separate processes. That improves stability and performance, he said.

• Support for JetPack, Mozilla's next-generation extensions system.

S• Integration of the Weave synchronization software so it's no longer a plug-in.

• Support for WebGL, an interface to provide browsers with accelerated 3D graphics.

• Faster execution of JavaScript programs that are common and increasingly powerful on the Web.

Applications that run natively on a device--whether directly on the hardware as in the case of the iPhone or on the Java-derived layer called Dalvik on Android--are an important area of mobile development today. But the Palm Pre uses a browser-based application design.

"It's the right model. It's not there yet," Sullivan said of Web-based programs. Today programmers must create separate versions of applications for BlackBerry, Nokia's Symbian, Android, the iPhone, and other mobile phones.

But that profusion will be replaced by the universality of the Web, he predicted.

"In three years," Sullivan said, "80 percent of those applications are going to be Web-based."

(Credit: Google)

Before Wednesday, you could star a map as a favorite on Google Maps online, and you could star one on Google Maps for Mobile, but you could never connect the two.

A small but significant update that Google added to Google Maps for Mobile 3.3 now syncs your starred locations between the map app on your Symbian and Windows phones, and your online account.

To start your syncing, press Menu and then Starred Items. You'll need to log into your account from the Starred Items screen to start syncing favorite maps. If you're upgrading from a previous version of the maps app, you'll be asked if you'd like to sync your favorites. Say yes.

Then, you're able to mark your favorite places in one location and have it surface in the other, as long as you remain logged in. This type of syncing is ideal for quickly locating that dinner spot you're headed to, or for pulling up driving directions to or from a starred location. Sure, it might make you lazy, but it'll also keep you from wasting precious time first looking up a location and then seeking directions or a phone number.

You can download Google Maps for Mobile by pointing your mobile browser to m.google.com/maps.

Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 betas share a Speed Dial design.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

In mid-September, Opera surprised us with a redesigned Opera Mini beta browser for Java phones, including BlackBerry. It had tabbed browsing, a first for Opera Mini, and Speed Dial, a carryover interface from Opera desktop browser (Windows|Mac) that you encounter each time you start the browser or open a new tab. Two things it didn't have: a download manager and Opera Link, the account-based tool that syncs bookmarks, Speed Dial options, and browsing history among your Opera browsers. With it, Web surfers can quickly get to favorite sites on their desktops, laptops, and smartphones.

On Wednesday, both Opera Mini 5 beta and the similar Opera Mobile 10 beta that followed it for Symbian Series 60 and Windows phones get an update that includes both Opera Link and a download manager.

These new beta builds aren't the first adjustment Opera has made to the redesigned betas. A previous tweak partially resolved a problem where Opera's mobile browsers weren't inputting the font style needed to render several Asian languages.

Plenty of other known issues still exist, including the browsers' tendency on Symbian phones to pop open a virtual onscreen keyboard when you flip the phone into landscape mode and start typing away on the phone's physical QWERTY, and the lack of support for non-touch-screen Windows phones. Opera provides a full list of known issues for Opera Mobile 10 beta here. I've also noticed that Opera Mini 5 beta rarely loads a page I've linked to from some other application on the BlackBerry I've been testing with. You may encounter the occasional bug as well in this not-quite-set beta release. If you find others, share them in the comments.

If you're curious how Opera Mini 5 beta and Opera Mobile 10 beta look and work, you can cash in on some instant gratification with this video. If you don't have a Symbian phone, don't let the fact that Opera is modeled on one in this video bother you--the builds are exceedingly similar for Java, Symbian, and Windows phones.

You can try the free cell phone browsers for yourself by pointing the mobile browser on your Java-based cell phone to http://m.opera.com/mini/next/. Download Opera Mobile 10 beta 2 for Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 60 phones by navigating to http://www.opera.com/mobile/download/.

Ustream in action on Android-based devices.

(Credit: Ustream)

Online video-streaming site Ustream announced on Wednesday that a mobile app that allows users to view Ustream content is available now in the Android Market.

According to Ustream, the app, dubbbed Android Viewer, allows users to watch any show on the site over Wi-Fi or 3G. The app works with Android software versions 1.5 and up. It also includes a chat function, allowing users to communicate with others who are also watching the show.

This isn't the first time Ustream has released an application for Android. The company already offers the Android Broadcaster, which allows users to stream a show to viewers from their Android-based gadget.

Those looking to try out Ustream's new Android app can download it for free from the Android market.

Google coupons now available on the go.

(Credit: Google)

Google has been giving companies in its business listings ways to offer digital coupons to visitors since 2007. It wasn't until this week, though, that Google could bring the same coupons to mobile users.

It works like this: Businesses add a coupon to their listing in Google's Local Business Center. When you search a Google local listing from your Internet-enabled phone, any available coupons show up. As with other mobile coupon sites and applications, you'll simply present your phone face at the check-out stand. The checker will enter in the coupon bar code and you'll get your discount.

Google's mobile expansion of its digital coupons brings the search and advertising giant in direct competition with coupon providers like Coupons.com, Coupon Sherpa, Cellfire, and Yowza. With the exception of Yowza, which is a mobile-only application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, each service has a mobile coupons site and at least an iPhone app. Yelp has also jumped into the mobile deal business by letting businesses place special offers to Yelp users on Yelp.com and in its iPhone app.

Users' biggest complaints with mobile coupons tend to boil down to one thing: variety. While national chains are easier (and generally more effective) for a coupon service to sign, millions of other shoppers may prefer discounts for local or specialized brands, restaurants, and stores. Any business model that can capitalize on a self-service coupon sign-up for local and national businesses should have the upper hand.

So long as mobile shoppers navigate to Google's site from their cell phone browsers, Google's coupon business should grow. After all, Google isn't creating a brand-new business for digital deal distribution, but extending one that's already in place.