Interesting article. Also, interesting discussion about the true impact Google might have on development here in the US. I do, however, believe the author, along with everyone else in this space, may have missed the point.

Google's wireless strategy, while important in the US, is likely more interested in impacting the rest of the world. The US, Japanese and Western Europe wireless markets are getting mature FAST. This fact, combined with the fact that the major carriers have very low churn (% of customers leaving/switching to another carrier each month) means breaking into these markets will be very difficult and extraordinarily expensive.

The rest of the world, however, is a bit different. In China, China Mobile (one of Google's partners) signs up about as many customers as ATT or Verizon have in total every 8 months or so. CM has a big problem on the horizon though: how do you squeeze revenue out of the very-poor remaining population. Google has a potential answer: advertising revenue!

Google can enter developing markets, with partners, and grab some market share cheaply. The also will be able to subsidize expensive handsets like we do in the US. Most other markets have very limited handset subsidies because consumers can typically port handsets from one carrier to another. Therefore, if a provider subsidized a handset they stood a risk of never making back the investment.

If, however, the subsidy was coming from ad revenue versus from the network provider, the revenue could get paid back regardless of which network the consumer uses.

In short, I think the headline was spot on but the article was not. Google really is after the WORLD. The US is just a nice thing to drag along with it...

BTW, "Do no evil" is a great motto to live by...especially if you get to define evil! :-)