No there’s no grammatical error there in the title of the post. Well, although there is, it’s intentional. Think about it. Since the time Google announced its open source android operating system for mobiles, people have wondered — why is Google launching a product that has no apparent revenue model?

The question has come to the forefront once again with the launch of T mobile’s HTC G1. The phone is pretty nifty and we especially like the flip-slider opening keyboard. Android works fairly smooth too. But coming back to what Google is up to — perhaps its recent announcement that the iPhone and T-Mobile G1 can now show Google search ads sheds a little light on the question. Is Google then going the Microsoft way? Monopoly being the name of the game. For instance, reports suggest T-Mobile’s G1 works fine with many online services, but it works especially well with Google’s. It delivers a lot of the basic core functions and of course, tight integration with Google’s products, including Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Calendar. Having said that, there is also a lack of basic features like video recording. Is it a miss out, or more like an opportunity for independent app developers?

Google has come up with a mobile application store of its own, called Android Market ala iPhone. Besides, some of Google’s latest antics include asking broadband carriers to create a special fastlane exclusively for its content. This would be done by placing Google servers in the ISP’s technical facilities. Another somewhat alarming warning sign is the removal of Firefox as the default browser in the Google code pack.

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