Googlephone becomes official: The game changes yet again

This is disruptive because Google, on almost every single quarterly conference call for the past 36 months, has said mobile was integral to its business. Indeed, the company's Android mobile phone operating system has made a splash this year, with handsets popping up from all major U.S. carriers. That is, except iPhone seller AT&T (T).

Google and Apple (AAPL) are now becoming the two large giants in the mobile phone space in terms of advanced smartphones that do everything but clean the kitchen sink. Meanwhile Microsoft (MSFT) has fallen way behind in this race and is being spanked by its two smaller (by revenue) competitors. Google's influence continues to permeate everyday online life for millionsof people and it may soon have such overriding influence over our connected lives that Microsoft will be just a memory to many (and not be remembered at all by some).

The biggest stumbling block to the Googlephone (preliminarily termed the "Nexus One") will be price, since there will be no carrier subsidy to push the price down. Other phone makers have failed horribly in trying to convince consumers to pay full price for an advanced handset. What will Google do to combat this? Hard to say, but the company can't seem to make a wrong move. Perhaps it will give the Googlephone away for next to nothing just to drive traffic to its mobile ads. Thereby, Google itself becomes the subsidy.