Google's Blogger: already
on Sony phones

Two tech heavyweights are in talks to make the web on mobile phones - branded Google phones - as pervasive as it is on the desktop.

According to the UK's Observer, Google is in talks with Orange, the mobile phone operator owned by France Telecom, about a multibillion-dollar partnership to create a "Google phone" that comes with built-in Google software, perhaps sporting a screen the size of an iPod Video, which the two companies are betting will make surfing the web from a mobile handset much easier for Europeans.

The convergence of Google's software expertise and the experience of mobile giant Orange - a seasoned player in the mobile industry with years more experience than any of the U.S.-based telecoms - is the basis of the move.

"There are numerous situations in which people say 'I wish I had Google in my hand,' and I can imagine the younger generation of users would think that a Google phone is a cool idea," said Tony Cooper, a telecom consultant. "It could bring in location-based searches like 'Find a Thai restaurant in my area.'"