Report: Google to connect with cell phones

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Google Inc. is about to make Web applications and services as accessible on cell phones as they are from a computer, U.S. published reports said Tuesday.

The Mountain View, Calif., Internet search and online advertising company plans next month to unveil software and services that bundle together Google applications -- including Google Maps, YouTube video-sharing, Gmail e-mail and other features -- on a mobile platform, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The possibly free Linux-based operating system would be "open" to third-party developers, meaning anyone could create applications for it, Information Week said.

But to succeed, Google will have to get past resistance from U.S. wireless carriers and overcome security and privacy issues, the Journal said.

Google has been talking to Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp. and South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. about making phones that run the Google mobile operating system, the Journal said.

It is also seeking wireless operators, including, for U.S. service, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA Inc., the Journal said

A deal with Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier, would give Google access to 63.7 million potential customers.

In Europe, Google is pursuing France Telecom's Orange SA and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s 3 U.K., the newspaper said.

If all goes as planned, handset makers could deliver Google-powered phones to consumers by the middle of 2008, the newspaper said.