Verizon (VZ) May Team With Google (GOOG) For G-Phone

Telecom & Wireless

Published: October 30, 2007 5:11 pm

Business makes strange bedfellows. Verizon Wireless, a JV between Verizon (VZ) and Vodafone (VOD), is in discussions with Google (GOOG) about distributing phones with the Google handset operating system.

According to The Wall Street Journal a "Google technology partnership might allow the carrier to offer cheaper phones, since Google’s licensing fees for its software and operating system would likely be lower than the industry standard."

Verizon Wireless has over 63 million customers, but it may need a unique product to offset the Apple (AAPL) iPhone which is sold by cellular system rival AT&T (T) Wireless.

The cell subscriber market in the US is not growing as fast as it once was. The three largest wireless providers, which includes Sprint (S), have over 180 million customers. That is approaching the number of adults in the US, and some of the aged cannot use cell phones. Much of the revenue growth over the next decade may come from the wireless contenders taking market share from one another.

Google and Verizon against AT&T and Apple. Steel cage death match. (The loser will probably be Sprint, which is not even in the ring.)

The

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