AAPL-Has the unstoppable juggernaut met its match?
Google's New Cell-Phone Universe Its Open Handset Alliance, including Intel, Motorola, and T-Mobile, could threaten Symbian and Microsoft—and redouble investments in mobile software
Building a better mobile phone is a costly, time-consuming business. Whether it's crafting the chips that power phones, the handsets that hold the pieces together, or the software that runs the features, companies around the world have been at it for decades, but few manage to get it right.
Leave it to Google (GOOG) to try to speed things along. On Nov. 5 the owner of the world's largest search engine announced the creation of the Open Handset Alliance, a group of 34 companies that will create a package of free software that includes everything needed to run a cell phone: an open-source, Linux-based operating system, a Web browser, and a slew of applications, including maps, e-mail, and video-sharing and -viewing tools.
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