• TechCrunch , Monday, July 14, 2008 12 PM

Throughout 2007, rumors of Google's mobile push included speculation about a so-called gPhone that would presumably run on operating system software developed by the company. However, following the announcement of Android and the Open Handset Alliance, the Google phone rumors were promptly squashed-only to be resurrected over the weekend when TechCrunch interpreted recent comments made by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to mean that the gPhone might be back. As Mediaweek says, "The trio of Google execs also used the opportunity to talk about the inroads the company is making with its own branded mobile phone as a replacement for the iPhone."

As writer Michael Arrington points out, unless Mediaweek reporter Dan Cox got the summary wrong, the words "branded mobile phone" indicate something very different from Google's Android. The mobile platform is an operating system, not a branded phone.

But wait, there's more, Arrington says. Another rumor has it that San Francisco-based Ammunition Design Group may be working with Google to create an Android-based branded Google gPhone. Ammunition has designed computers and devices for the likes of Palm, HP, Dell Computer and Logitech. "This all may be nothing, but we've got a good source swearing that Ammunition Group is designing the Gphone and that it is a seriously beautiful device," Arrington says.

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