Google phone in the works: Insiders

SAN FRANCISCO - GOOGLE is developing its own cellphone, according to industry insiders and analysts, while a Google official in Spain last week acknowledged the company is 'investigating' such a project.

Google is not commenting directly on leaks from Europe and the United States, which describe a low-cost, Internet-connected phone with a colour, widescreen design.

Newspaper and blog reports in recent months have Google sounding out potential cellphone manufacturing partners in Asia on its phone design.

'Mobile is an important area for Google,' Google spokesman Erin Fors said on Friday. 'We remain focused on creating applications, and establishing and growing partnerships with industry leaders to develop innovative services for users worldwide. However, we have nothing further to announce.'

Gadget enthusiasts who only two months ago were obsessed with the potential revolutionary impact on the phone industry of Apple's iPhone - due out in June at prices starting from US$500 (S$765) - have shifted their attention to whether Google is developing an even lower-cost phone.

Lending further clues, Ms Isabel Aguilera, head of Google's Iberian operations, was quoted last week in Spanish news website Noticias.com as acknowledging the existence of a part-time project by some Google engineers to develop a cellphone.

To be sure, feverish speculation about Google products has been wrong before.

Google was widely reported to be building its own line of personal computers (PCs) a little over a year ago. What materialised was a set of free software programmes designed to make any existing Windows PC easier to use.