Google Rumors and a Wild Theory

Historical Background: A lot has been said recently about Google's little forays into the wifi market. First it was a rumor, and now it's confirmed (it's News.com, watch out for the ad). Of course, this has already produced some interesting ideas (Russell Shaw's) about Google's intentions for this experiment. There's a lot more than just those ideas rolling around, but I don't have any more links handy. You get the idea, Google is up to something interesting.

That leads me to my own Wild Theory. I think that Google is on to something major here. Not just a fancy way to show us more ads. See, there's this talk (expect Flash) by Adam Bosworth, the Vice President of Engineering at Google. In that talk he mentions that mobile voip phones will soon become pervasive (about halfway through slide 3 he says, "as mobile-voip phones suddenly become pervasive"). That's true, and not just because he said it. So that made me think.

See, mobile voip phones use the internet (via wifi) to handle all that talking we do. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Current versions of such phones can use normal cell networks too, but if free Google wifi is everywhere, why pay for Cingular? I think that Google has the potential to provide both internet access and mobile telecommunications for free (the opportunities for targeted marketing would certainly provide needed revenue). They did just release Google Talk as you recall. This would, of course, kill the telecos (which is great, because they're making us pay through the nose for something that is, essentially, a commodity like water).

So that's my Wild Theory. It's based on hard facts and thin air. Tell all your friends.