Don’t call it a phone? Not even a GPhone? ‘fraid not, according to yesterday’s International Herald Tribune. Yes, Google is working on a mobile phone project, and has been for some two years now, but it’s not an actual phone. The GPhone, it turns out, will be a Linux-based software suite that will be able to run other companies’ cellphones.

How does this gel with what Biggs reported a few weeks ago? ::’I don’t know’ shoulder shrug::

Google devised the GPhone project in order to establish a presence in the mobile phone advertising industry. How many ads do you see on your present-day cellphone? I see none, but that’s because I don’t surf the Web with it. Google knows that mobile advertising is, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent. Hence, GPhone. That is, a whole host of free software plastered with the Google logo and full of ads. Whee!

In summary, GPhone is real, but it ain’t a phone. It’s a free software suite. Oh, and look for it to be announced as early as this year, with a release next year? CES? Your own show? Come on, Google…

With ‘phone’ project, Google has mobile ad dollars in its sights [International Herald Tribune]