On the eve of the annual CTIA wireless show, Google has announced its plans to launch a free global wireless broadband network, which will be launched in mid-2007.  There had long been rumors that Google would expand its WiFi mesh network, currently being built in San Francisco, to other cities.  But the Glo-Fi network, as it is being called, will use different technology – essentially intellectual property and satellite equipment that had been mothballed since Ronald Reagan’s failed Strategic Defense Initiative of nearly twenty years ago.  By using a satellite-based service, Google claims it will be able to inexpensively offer seamless global wireless coverage.  In the ultimate fulfillment of the Google business model, subscribers will have unlimited voice and data access from any Glo-Fi enabled computer or phone as long as they fulfill the minimum requirement of 50 page views per week.  In support of the new service, Google is launching a new global advertising campaign with the slogan:  “We’ve made everything else free…why not wireless?”

In its press release, Google acknowledged it had been exploring myriad options with regard to its wireless strategy.  “We figured our hundreds of billions in cash still wouldn’t be enough to buy spectrum in the upcoming auctions”, said Bronson Pinchot – former actor turned Google spokesman due to his resemblance to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.  “Also, we determined that the only way to get the next couple of billion wireless subscribers is to develop a really cheap phone, and Glo-Fi is the only technology that does not require us to pay a royalty to Qualcomm.”  The last straw, according to Pinchot, apparently was Qualcomm’s recent requirement that executives at major wireless carriers and vendors must formally bow toward San Diego before heading off to work every morning.

Understandably, this announcement has drawn lots of reaction within the wireless community.

• Verizon Wireless, which has spent billions of dollars to achieve leadership in network coverage, appeared visibly frustrated.  “No matter what Google says about blanketing the globe, we still have the best network”, said a Verizon spokesperson.  “Test Man is not out of a job”.  Still, the company acknowledged this new competitive threat, issuing a release that its long running chief executive, Denny Strigl, has changed his last name to “Strugl” in preparation for the battle ahead.  • T-Mobile, on the other hand, appeared relieved.  “Now that Google is offering a free high speed global wireless service, think of the billions we will be able to save by not having to buy wireless spectrum or build a 3G network”, said a T-Mobile spokesperson. • Yahoo, one of Google’s most significant competitors, will be especially hard hit.  “Ya-Hoo! should be crying Boo-Hoo”, quipped Pinchot. • Comcast, seeing Glo-Fi as a significant threat to the cable company “quadruple play” opportunity, said in a terse statement, “well, that’s not exactly Comcastic”. • Microsoft, which for more than ten years has been trying to develop a wireless device that people might actually want to use, seemed uncharacteristically non-plussed.  “We are laser focused on push e-mail”, said CEO Bill Gates.  Microsoft affirmed its plans to launch push e-mail by 2007 – just in time for the tenth anniversary celebration of Blackberry’s ability to do the same thing. • Apple expressed relief at the Google announcement.  “We are sick and tired of fielding calls from media and analysts about the iPod phone”, said an Apple spokesperson. • Ebay is trying to put a positive spin on the Google news.  “Two billion bucks less than a year ago and it’s already “Skype Over” said Google of Ebay’s VoIP plans.  But Ebay thinks it will more than recoup its Skype losses from all the used cell phones and accessories that will come on the market once the Google service is launched.

The strongest reaction, however, has come from Intel, which has been trying to convince the world that WiMax is the wireless equivalent of the Second Coming.  Google has touted the global reach, full mobility, and high speed capabilities of its Glo-Fi network.  “Glo-Fi turns WiMax into WiMin”, said Google.

In a unique business arrangement, Google has teamed with the Department of Homeland Security to combine elements of SDI with its own Google Maps and Google Local technology to throw a “giant mesh” around any flying object deemed to be of a suspicious nature.  Additionally, Google announced that all Glo-Fi phones will be equipped with Google Zap — precision lasers that subscribers can use to obliterate anything that appears to be a threat.  Users just need to point the phone in the right direction and press and use either the “stun” or “kill” soft keys that are shipped on all Glo-Fi phones.  The tag line for the Google Zap service:  “A dead terrorist is Goo without the Gle. 

President Bush had been planning a surprise appearance at CTIA but unfortunately got stuck in a cab line at the Las Vegas airport.  Instead, in a prepared statement to be broadcast at the Day One SuperSession, President Bush praised the Zap-enabled Glo-Fi phone.  “Now that’s what you call the ultimate converged device”, said the President.  “I look forward to sitting on Trent Lott’s front porch and zapping those terrorists”.  The President also praised the Google Zap’s safety feature that would prevent him from any potential accidents, say, on a hunting trip with his buddies.  Regarding his country’s new found leadership position in wireless, the President said:  “In addition to the U.S. now being firmly in control of global wireless services, we can put the power of homeland defense into the hands of individual Americans.”

In a unique business arrangement, Google has teamed with the Department of Homeland Security to combine elements of SDI with its own Google Maps and Google Local technology to throw a “giant mesh” around any flying object deemed to be of a suspicious nature.  Additionally, Google announced that all Glo-Fi phones will be equipped with Google Zap — precision lasers that subscribers can use to obliterate anything that appears to be a threat.  Users just need to point the phone in the right direction and press and use either the “stun” or “kill” soft keys that are shipped on all Glo-Fi phones.  The tag line for the Google Zap service:  “A dead terrorist is Goo without the Gle.

• Giggle, a centralized repository of humor-related applications for mobile subscribers. • Gaggle, a community-centric service designed to compete with MySpace.  • Gabble, which will be Google’s entry into Wireless instant messaging (IM).

Additionally, Google announced that it has acquired the highly successful MVNO Babble, which was launched last April 1 to target children under the age of two.  As part of the Google’s broad corporate strategy, codenamed Google Everything, every product or service offered by the company must have a Google-centric name associated with it.  As a result, the toddler-oriented Babble service will be renamed GooGoogle. 

Finally, Google is throwing its hat in the ring with the announcement of its own mobile television service called, of course, GooTV.  Industry executives applauded Google’s foray into Mobile TV, indicating in a joint press statement released from the Las Vegas airport cab line:  “We clearly need another competing standard for mobile television.  However many there are today – FLO, DVB-H, DAB/DMB, MBMS, BCMCS – is not enough.”  Google believes the lack of complex acronym will help set its service apart.  And when asked about how Google plans to compete with the $700 million Qualcomm is putting into its own mobile TV initiative, MediaFLO, Google spokesperson Pinchot said:  “We think our television offering will cause FLO to EBB.”

Google also announced the first ever reality series for mobile TV, called Wireless Patent Wars.  Each week, subscribers will be asked to send in, via text message, their opinions about who should prevail in that particular episode’s intellectual property battle.  In another ground-breaking public-private partnership, Google announced that it has teamed with state and federal courts to ensure the enforceability of subscriber vote tallies.  The host of the show will be Judge James Spencer, who presided over the RIM-NTP case for two years.  In a release, judge Spencer said “Frankly, the courts are happy to remand this to the general public.  These cases are expensive, complicated, and, frankly, boring.   And I’m sure there are CIOs out there who would love to vote NTP ‘off the island’.”

The first episode of Wireless Patent Wars, scheduled to air in May, will focus, naturally, on mobile e-mail.  Promotional ads already appearing demonstrate the show’s compelling content:  “You thought it was over with the RIM settlement?  Just you wait”.  In a service to Lens subscribers the world over, Mobile Ecosystem has prepared a schematic of the current wireless e-mail lawsuits that will be featured in the first episode, shown below.

Next week’s episode will focus on the broad suit in Europe against Qualcomm.  To help promote the show, one of the signature “events” at CTIA next week will feature Qualcomm Chairman Irwin Jacobs wrestling Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila in a cage at the Mandalay Bay.