Is Something Hiding Behind Google Android?

Right from Google's initial launch of Android, I've been curious about what the overall plan was for the product. After all, Google sank an enormous amount of money into its development, and judging from the blogs of Java developers that I read, a pretty good amount of time as well. It seemed an awfully big project to have launched without the usual amount of Google fanfare, and it was coming fairly late in the game, with Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry owning most of the smartphone market share. And at CES, the bellwether for the gadget industry, only one phone showed up that was using the Android platform, the Chinese-made Wistron.

Rumors, however, are flying today that Google wasn't quite finished with their phone project with the release of Android. After all, the original speculation surrounding the Android project was that Google was coming out with their own phone to rival the iPhone. Dell is actually restructuring their retail sales, announcing that they are closing all 140 U.S. kiosks in favor of sales through retail stores. Could this realignment be part of the preparation for sales of a phone in partnership with Dell?

Dell already produces a PDA, and Apple has been gaining market share in the PC arena tied to its iPod and iPhone lines. It would make perfect sense for Dell to mount a counter attack in the form of a smart phone, and what bigger player to partner with than Google? And while there are conflicting reports about whether this messianic phone would launch at next month's 3GSM Telecom Conference in Barcelona, there has been no denial from either company that such a product is in the works.

Hey, if it runs on 3G? I'm already sold.