Just as consumers finished picking sides in the Blackberry-iPhone faceoff, a new competitor has entered the smartphone market: Google Inc.
Google executives announced Tuesday the company will sell its own mobile phone, called the Nexus One, in what's widely viewed as an attempt to protect its online search empire.
The touch-screen phone will be sold directly to consumers on Google's website. However, clicking on www.google.com/phone from Canada brings up a message that reads: "Sorry, the Nexus One phone is not available in your country."
There was no immediate word from Canada's wireless carriers if they will pursue contracts to carry the phone.
American consumers can purchase the Nexus One for US$179 if they commit to a year-year contract with T-Mobile USA.
However an unlocked phone, which will allow users to select from among the major U.S. wireless carriers, will be sold for US$529.
Google executives said Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and Vodafone in Europe will offer Nexus One discounted contracts in the spring.
The device runs the latest version of Google's Android operating system, which can already be found on phones manufactured by companies like Motorola, Samsung Electronics and HTC.
By entering the market with its own phone, Google is also competing with those companies.
Google has been keenly aware that users of other smartphones, such as the iPhone and the Blackberry, surf the Internet and use Google to conduct online searches.
CTV tech expert Kris Abel said the company will leverage its dominance of the online search market and could move to offer that service exclusively on their phones.
"So as a competitor not only do you have a large brand moving in to your territory," Abel said Tuesday on Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel. "But you now have to try and compete against the thing that makes them popular."
With Tuesday's announcement, Google is taking aim at Apple, which has sold more than 30 million of its iPhones since they debuted in 2007.
But the competition can only fuel innovation, which will give users more exciting new ways to use their mobile phones, such as voice-activated searches, Abel said.
"They're trying to get to the point where if somebody has to make a choice between going to their laptop to perform a search or their mobile phone, they want to make it so that the mobile phone has a greater appeal."
With files from The Associated Press
