Google to release cell-phone

Google is to release its own mobile platform ne-xt year to drastically shake up the cell-phone industry and provide mob-ile users with a host of new applications, Wall Street Journal reported.

The paper today said that Google planned to make a formal announcement of its plans in about two weeks.Google is in talks with cell-phone maker HTC of Taiwan and LG of South Korea to manufacture the phone, which would be tailored to Google software. Google is also seeking partnerships with wireless operators like Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA, France Telecom's Orange SA and Hutchison Whampoa's 3.

The Google ogibe would make Google applications and services as easily accessible on mobile phones as PCs, so that the company can extend its advertising business to the more than three billion users of cell phones and other wireless devices. Worldwide, mobile ad spending is expected to reach $1.5 billion this year and grow to $11.3 billion by 2011, according to market researcher Informa Telecoms & Media.

Until now, Google has pursued various strategies to tap this market, adapting Google websites for mobile browsers.