Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

All that speculation by bloggers about Google's GPhone has come to naught. There is no such phone coming our way. But all is not lost, as the poet said. It turns out that Google honchos have been secretly developing an operating system for mobile phone users . This OS will bunch together all of Google's offerings and will also have a brand new browser. It is likely to be unveiled in the beginning of 2008. Google will be persuading service providers and mobile manufacturers to install the OS in their instruments. At present, mobile phones use operating systems developed by Microsoft and London-based Symbian, which provides software for Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens.

UMTS Forum, an international body that promotes uptake of UMTS technology for the roll out of 3G mobile telephony is planning to write a letter to telecom department asking it to reject the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or Trai’s recommendations on the auction of 3G spectrum. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) chairman Jean-Pierre Bienaime said that the Indian government should avoid the auction of the 3G spectrum and the high base price recommended by Trai. “Government should prevent the initial investors from being overburdened and instead of auction government should follow the path of entry price with beauty contest,” Mr Bienaime told this newspaper. Mr Bienaime said that the bad example of auction of 3G spectrum followed in the UK, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands resulted in high price of 3G spectrum and this jeopardised the profitability of 3G telephony. “Instead government should follow the example of France where the midd