CNET: gPhone Software To Be "Everything You Need To Run A Phone"

By Rob Beschizza

Google's Monday Revolution will be a suite of software based on Linux and codenamed "Android," according to a story published at News.com. This suite is implied to be an operating system ("it's said to include everything you need to run a phone") to be followed immediately thereafter by an SDK.

The rest of the story is standard gPhone preview: weasel-worded blather like "backed by some of the largest wireless industry companies in the world" and "carrier n is said to be heavily involved." Buried deep, however, are nuggets like JumpTap executive Dan Olschwang wondering if the whole thing is just a giant trap to get people to write expansions to Google's software, and Tim Hanlon of Denuo pointing out that if the gPhone's framework is anything like what's described here, the carriers would be loathe to let it in their playground at all.
Google to unveil 'Android' phone software [CNET]

Searching for the GooglePhone? Here's the Lowdown

By Rob Beschizza


The Google Phone may dropkick the wireless industry as early as Monday.
The Wall Street Journal says the legendary

platform/service/framework/protocol/network/McGuffin has decided to come two weeks early — but still doesn't know exactly what it will be.

Describing it with such boilerplate vagaries as "big plans in wireless," "a splash in the mobile market" and "alliance with various handset makers and cellphone operators," the implication is clearly that it's a platform of integrated software and service offerings that anyone, in principle, may work into a new machine's hardware. Here's what we know, based on the Journal and other sources:

The Journal's sources say it will be T-Mobile and Sprint on board to begin with (Yesterday, it was Verizon and Sprint!)

International carriers seem to be in on the action too: Bharti Airtel's leaking info like a sieve over in the subcontinent.

Om Malik says the hardware's coming from everyone except Nokia.
The phone will be running a "highly optimized Mobile Linux" with a strong Java flavor, again according to Om Malik.

The Journal's Amol Sharma says to expect HTC as the "likely bet" for the manufacturer of the first set of phones.

HTC is Microsoft's honey, manufacturing many Windows Mobile-based handsets, which puts the big question front and center: Google's platform, if it is not an operating system too, will surely have to play nicely with Windows Mobile, given the spread of handset-makers in the crystal ball. How will the two co-exist in the mobile advertising space?

I'll go with the obvious bet: it'll be an initial disappointment from a "Gee Whiz" viewpoint, but clearly the wedge-end of a longer-term plan that goes part hardware and software and right to the cloud. But we want hardware. Superior steeple-fingered analysis is to be found at sister blog Epicenter, wherein Dylan prepares to eat hat.

Ring-Ring…Google to Announce Phone Plans Monday [WSJ]

Leopard's Almost Here -- What You Need to Know

By Michael Calore

The next version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system goes on sale at 6pm local time Friday. Though nobody's expecting iPhone-style lines snaking around the block at every Apple store, there is a huge amount of excitement among Mac owners for Apple's second-biggest product release of the year.

If you want to be the first on your block to procure a shiny DVD of Leopardy goodness, you should be prepared. Here's a rundown of what we know now so far.

If you buy a new computer today after 6pm, Apple will throw in a DVD of Leopard for free. The new OS ships on all new Mac hardware purchases starting today, and it's unlikely Apple will have had time to load all of its back-room stock with Leopard in advance.

If you bought a new Mac after October 1, 2007, you can upgrade to Leopard for $10. Also, if you buy a new computer anytime today before Leopard goes on sale -- even at 5:55pm -- you have to pay $10 to upgrade.

The only way to get a physical copy of Leopard on Friday will be to visit an Apple store or an Apple-authorized retail location. Lines should be expected. You may be able to buy Leopard at 6pm at your local Best Buy or CompUSA, but availability will vary based on your location.
Expect the Apple stores to close between 4pm and 6pm. Apple stores usually close for about two hours before a major launch. This gives workers time to put up special interactive displays and new signage, and it allows time for sales personnel to receive a last-minute briefing. It's also likely Apple stores will replace all of the computers on the sales floor with machines running Leopard just before doors re-open at 6.

The rumor has it the first 500 customers to buy Leopard at each location will receive commemorative Leopard T-shirts. So get there early!

If you really can't wait, we hear pirated copies of Leopard are available on BitTorrent trackers and Craigslist, among other places.

Users are organizing meetups at Apple stores around the world. In cities with multiple Apple stores (like Los Angeles and New York), users are trying to organize meetups at specific stores. Check the Leopard meetups boards on MacRumors to find the highest concentration of Mac nerdery in your locale.

So far, it looks like the Apple stores in downtown San Francisco and the Santa Clara store at Valley Fair are the hottest spots on the west coast to buy Leopard.

The jokers at smashsomestuff.com gained notoriety on June 29 for smashing a newly purchased iPhone, and we hear the videobloggers are planning a repeat demonstration at the Valley Fair store just before Leopard goes on sale.

Leopard will cost $130 per single-user copy. Five-license "family packs" will also be available for $200. For hardware requirements, visit Apple's website.

word is that this has been leaked and it has gotten some good reviews!
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