Google-everything

Is there no end to it? Is there nothing Google won't touch? The launch of Google Voice signals the aptly named "web monster's" next move as it munches its way pacman like through anything that comes within even a whiff of the Internet.

The technology behind it is Grand Central, and when Google acquired them in 2007, it certainly gave an indication what was to come. And while eBay may have failed to work out what to do with Skype, that's because it was a service without an application. Skype is cheap voice ... and when I'm selling stuff on eBay, the last thing I want is people calling me. If I wanted to do that, I'd advertise in the local newsagent.

But Grand Central is different. It's an application. The hosted PBX model is almost limitless in the sort of applications it can let users access, giving the user complete control over almost every aspect of their experience, from ring-back tones to voicemail, from a single number that follows you across mobile, home and work phones to permissions and profiling of different caller IDs.

Ultimately, this is what it comes down to. If VoIP is just about trashing the cost of calls, then Skype is your answer ... and operators will hate it as they have no response. But if VoIP is about applications, about wrapping additional service wrappers around the basic call, then all is not lost for the operator. They have a way to fight back against Google Voice ... afterall, when it comes to voice, no-one knows that better than a telco.

Better late than never?

Finally. Nokia has come out with what is purported to be its response to the iPhone. Oh, and its response to the Android-based G1 from T-Mobile/Google. Oh, and to the Samsung touch screen phones. Oh, and to the ...

Can you see what it is yet, as Rolf Harris would say?

For a company that is the market leader, Nokia's complacency has been stunning in many respects. It seems to have been either blindsided by Apple and Google, or just been unable to demonstrate the rapid innovation that propelled it to its current position. While Nokia has nailed the business market with the E and N series, in the consumer market the threat from the new guys has been a sharp one.

There are clearly some constants emerging across all these devices that point towards where the mobile industry sees (hopes) mobile data will come from. No longer is video the great hope. Social networking and widget-based applications are now the big thing.

If you look at the sort of data usage being reported back from operators who are supporting (and that also means bankrolling giving the slice of cash they have to hand over to Apple), it's clear that these devices are the catalyst for a dramatically increased data usage by subscribers.

Of course, Nokia is making a much bigger play that just shipping shiny phones. Just looking at the other announcements it made at its Barcelona event where it unveiled the N97, and there is news around Nokia Maps, Nokia Messaging and its acquisition of Symbian.

Google v Nokia. It's an OS war. It's a handset war. It's a content war. And looking at the pace of innovation in both companies and their ability to really understand the consumer and where they are heading ... you'd be crazy not to have at least an each way bet on Google to win.