Google to release cell-phone next year

The Wall Street Journal says Google plans to shake up the cell-phone industry with this move and also provide users a host of new applications.

Google is to release its own mobile platform next year in a bid to drastically shake up the cell-phone industry and provide mobile users with a host of new applications, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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The paper on Tuesday said that Google planned to make a formal announcement of its plans in about two weeks.

The report said that Google was in talks with cell-phone maker HTC of Taiwan and LG of South Korea to manufacture the phone, which would be tailored to Google software. Google is also seeking partnerships with wireless operators like Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA, France Telecom's Orange SA and Hutchison Whampoa's 3 in Britain.

The Google ogibe would make Google applications and services as easily accessible on mobile phones as PCs, so that the company can extend its advertising business to the more than three billion users of cell phones and other wireless devices.

Worldwide, mobile ad spending is expected to reach $1.5 billion this year and grow to $11.3 billion by 2011, according to market researcher Informa Telecoms & Media.

Until now, Google has pursued various strategies to tap this market, adapting Google websites for mobile browsers as well as preloading Google software in handsets like Apple's iPhone.