Google Signs Partners for Google Phone Push

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)--Google on Nov. 5 spelled out long-rumored plans to enter the mobile phone market in 2008 by building software that could help the industry make the Internet run more easily on phones. ADVERTISEMENT German mobile network powerhouse T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom's mobile unit, plans next year to start selling Google-software-based phones, while China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier, and top carriers in Japan said they would offer Google-based handsets. Google, which has no immediate plans to make phones of its own, said it was working with 30 companies, including phone makers Motorola, Samsung Electronics and High Tech Computer. Also taking part are major communications chip makers, including Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Marvell Technology Group. The leading Internet company has long been rumored to be working on a new class of free or low-cost advertising-supported mobile phone of its own, popularly known as the "Gphone." Google's Schmidt would not rule out the company developing its own devices but said it had no imminent plans to do so.

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