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Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that the FCC has now approved the HTC Dream, the first phone to run Google’s Gphone Android operating system. They are expecting the Dream to go on sale in the next quarter specifically before November 10th.

Venture Beat is also reporting on the launch of the HTC Dream and pulling from multiple sources they are predicting that it will go on sale between Oct 15 and Nov 30. After years of hype the promise of the mobile web may actually now be materialising (well, maybe).

Will the Google phone hit the stores this year?

siliconalleyinsider_pw predicted Yes   on 20th Aug 08

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Will the Google phone hit the stores this year?

venturebeat_pw predicted Yes   on 20th Aug 08

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The News Prediction Game

VentureBeat says:

The Gphone continues to be a figment of our imagination — Despite rumors to the contrary over the weekend, Google still has no plans to makes its own cell phone.

Silicon Alley Insider says:

So, we think that settles it — the Google guys were talking about the fact that they’re not producing their own branded phone, and that there isn’t a “Google phone”. And something got mixed up in the translation.

Will the google phone hit the stores this year?

venturebeat_pw predicted No on 14th Jul 08

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The News Prediction Game

Will the google phone hit the stores this year?

siliconalleyinsider_pw predicted No on 14th Jul 08

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The News Prediction Game

TechCrunch is re-reporting statements by Larry Page and Sergei Brin suggesting a Google Phone might really happen. Mediaweek reported them as saying:

“The trio of Google execs also used the opportunity to talk about the inroads the company is making with its own branded mobile phone as a replacement for the iPhone.”

Additionally, TechCrunch linking it to another story about Google working with Ammunition Design Group and speculating that a Google Phone may really be on its way.

Will the google phone hit the stores this year?

techcrunch_pw predicted Yes on 13th Jul 08

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The News Prediction Game

Silicon Alley Insider is reporting the latest on the Viacom v Google $1 billion YouTube copyright dispute. They are reporting that:

Last month, Viacom reiterated claims that Google is violating its copyright; on Friday, Google said that it’s not. Also, it says Viacom “threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression.” Etc.

They go on to predict that Viacom and Google will settle out of court.

Viacom vs Google/Youtube. Who will win by December 31st?

siliconalleyinsider_pw predicted Settlement is reached out of court prior to 12/31 on 28th May 08

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The News Prediction Game

On May 21st, Microsoft announced its new strategy to get people to use its search engine, Live Search Cashback. They can’t make it better so they are going to pay you to use it. Microsoft will pay consumers who find and buy a product via Live Search a certain percentage of the purchase price back. The blogosphere is split on whether this will have any difference to their share of the search market.

Michael Arrington at TechCrunch writes “This new approach is both desperate and brilliant.” and “Will It Work? Yes, it will work and it will almost certainly increase Microsoft’s market share in search, particularly in commerce search.”

However he seems alone in his enthusiasm. Henry Blodget at SAI says it is a great idea that won’t work. MG Siegler at VentureBeat is more scathing saying “The question is if this will have any meaningful effect on Microsoft’s current 3rd-place search market share in the search business. The answer? Probably not. Microsoft should worry about improving its algorithms or coming up with a completely new way of doing search — not paying users to use an inferior product.”

So by August will Microsoft manage to increase its market share from the 9.1% recorded in April?

Will Microsoft Increase Its Market Share In Search 3 Months After Launching Live Search Cashback?

techcrunch_pw predicted Yes on 22nd May 08

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The News Prediction Game

Will Microsoft Increase Its Market Share In Search 3 Months After Launching Live Search Cashback?

venturebeat_pw predicted No on 22nd May 08

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The News Prediction Game

Will Microsoft Increase Its Market Share In Search 3 Months After Launching Live Search Cashback?

siliconalleyinsider_pw predicted No on 22nd May 08

what is this?

The News Prediction Game

Silicon Alley Insider report that Yahoo and Google are frantically trying to put together the last touches to a search ad deal. The deal is reported to be an “open platform” which would allow any search company to bid to serve ads for search results.

siliconalleyinsider_pw now has H$10 on Google or Yahoo announcing an extension to their search ad deal by the end of May. Things are certainly hotting up!

VentureBeat are reporting on activist shareholder, Carl Icahn’s pursuit of Yahoo. They reckon that his menacing pursuit might push them faster into doing a deal with Google.

venturebeat_pw now has H$10 on Google or Yahoo announcing an extension to their search ad deal by the end of May.

VentureBeat and Silicon Alley Insider (are both reporting that Google is thinking of walking away from their search advertising deal with Yahoo. The limited search partnership saw Google serving ads for a small percentage of Yahoo’s search ad inventory. The deal was announced by Yahoo on April 9th and was planned to last 2 weeks.

The purpose of the partnership was to give Yahoo more leverage in getting a better deal out of Microsoft. That certainly worked with Microsoft upping its offer. But now the threat of a Microsoft takeover has receded, rumors are circulating that Google is cooling on extending the partnership. According to the WSJ Google execs are divided on how much they would like to screw their new best friend.

As Henry Blodget writes:
Google is now remembering that having 85% market share in a $20 billion global market probably isn’t a winning strategy for keeping regulators happy. Far better to keep one foot on Yahoo’s throat and the other on the defibrillator paddles, so you can always say, “See, we have a real live competitor here! It moved an hour ago. We swear!”

venturebeat_pw and siliconalleyinsider_pw now both have H$10 on the Google/Yahoo search ad partnership not extending beyond May.