More fuel to the gPhone fire

We jumped into the telecommunications world just a month before the iPhone was to be released, so we’re not really familiar with the hype it received even before the project was announced. But we’re pretty sure it was something along the lines of the gPhone hype which is spreading now. Every day, it seems, we’re hearing something new about the Google-made cell phone. We’re to the point where even old news is fueling the speculation.

Apparently, Google has filed a patent for GPay, a payment system that uses text messages to authenticate payments. This would likely work hand in hand with their existing payment system, Google Checkout, which is available on a mobile platform.

Information Week speculates that Google could offer transaction fee discounts in exchange for merchant advertising, but concludes that the effort is not likely to take off without a Google-backed mobile device.

And there you have it: your speculation of the day. It does come with the backing of Information Week, though, a publication of which we’ve become very fond. Just because the source is credible, however, doesn’t mean we have to believe anything at this point. After all, they’re just trying to put together pieces; what if those are the wrong pieces?

The best part about this is that the patent was filed over a year and a half ago: February 2006. It was made public just last week, but at this point we think it’s just coincidental timing. Did Google really have plans for its own mobile device that long ago? If so, what’s taking them so long?

[AppScout]

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