Rumor: Google in branded handset talks

Google continues to generate more rumors than Lindsay Lohan. The latest dish: The search giant is in talks with European mobile carrier Orange to develop a Google-branded handset optimized for Google content including search, mapping and video applications. According to the U.K. media outlet The Observer, which broke the story, Taiwan's HTC will manufacture the device based on Google's software specifications, with a retail rollout planned for 2008.

"Google are software experts and are doing some amazing work compressing data so that the mobile user gets a much better experience," a source close to the discussions told The Observer. "They don't know so much about mobiles, but they are eager to learn from Orange's years of experience."

Here's something to ponder: Will these phones be free to consumers, subsidized by mobile advertising revenues? That's the business model Google CEO Eric Schmidt outlined in an interview just last month. Stay tuned.

For more on the Google phone buzz:
- read this Observer article

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