Google to release gPhone?

It’s long been assumed that Google would not be releasing their own phone using the Android platform, but PDAStreet has found evidence to the contrary.

An anonymous source told PBS commentator Robert X. Cringley that Google would be releasing two branded phones: a high-end smartphone and a more traditional mobile phone, both running on the Linux-based Android. According to Cringley’s source, the smartphone will look similar to a BlackBerry, bet featuring a flip-up screen that hides a keyboard. Wi-Fi will be included on both phones, and Google is in talks with Version and T-Mobile about carrying the phones, which Samsung will be building. The smartphone is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year at an unnamed price, and the mobile phone will hit in 2009 for something less than $100.

Google promised, when Android was first announced, that they would not be releasing a branded phone, so this remains very firmly in the rumor category. Still, it is a very interesting rumor, if true.