Google is reportedly considering offering cellular service to compete with the likes of AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. If that's true, then ordinary consumers like you and me could soon have another option when buying wireless service. But what does it say about the future of competition? Why might Google want to get into the industry, and how big a deal is it, really?

First things first: What is Google planning?

The company hasn't confirmed anything, but reports suggest that Google wants to offer its own brand of cellular service by partnering with Sprint and T-Mobile, the nation's third- and fourth-largest carriers, respectively. This means you'd buy minutes and data from Google, but it would all ride over the other two companies' pipes.

Is this like Google Fiber for cellphones?

Not quite. With Google Fiber, Google is connecting homes to high-speed fiber-optic infrastructure that, in many places, the search giant laid down itself. But in this case, it doesn't appear that Google is building its own cell towers; it would simply resell Sprint and T-Mobile under the Google banner.

Would this shake up the wireless industry?

Google probably hopes so, but unlike the wired broadband industry that Google Fiber has been so successful at disrupting, the wireless industry is actually fairly competitive already. You have four major national carriers that are engaged in a major battle over pricing and customers right now. You also have dozens if not hundreds of smaller carriers who operate on the same basis as Google's rumored plan — paying the national carriers a wholesale rate and then repackaging the service into a different product. These piggyback carriers are called MVNOs, short for mobile virtual network operators.

Why would Google want to become a wireless provider?

If there's one thing driving Google, it's a thirst for your commercial data. Think about all the data generated by your Google searches that gets scooped up and used for advertising. Now think about all the data you generate when you place a phone call: whom you're calling, for how long, what time of day and so on. This information is incredibly personal and can be used to help build a profile of you — which, if you'll recall, is partly why everyone was so outraged when they found out about the National Security Agency's snooping into phone records.

Then there's the business information Google can collect about which data plans people find most attractive and how they use those plans. And naturally, all of Google's handsets would likely run on Android, so there's that software integration. Finally, Google is working on its own, modular smartphone. While that product will debut in Puerto Rico, it will surely make its way to the mainland United States and the rest of the world in due time.

Whoa, so Google would own the phone, the operating system and the carrier it rides on?

Exactly. By running its own MVNO, Google would have created a vertically integrated wireless division to match or even exceed Apple's footprint in the industry. In this future, you could still obviously buy devices and services from more established carriers. But where Apple's control over the iPhone stopped at the wireless carrier, Google would be far more empowered.

How does this affect Google's relationship to the big carriers — and Washington?

For one thing, you might expect Google to start caring more about the issues nearest to the hearts of Verizon and AT&T. For example, a Google-branded MVNO would likely be subject to federal rules governing phone records and how they're protected. Google has already been an outspoken player in the NSA reform debate. But becoming a wireless company may force Google to take some new and interesting positions on policy.

Google launched Project Ara, a project that will give users more of a choice when buying a cell phone.

“Google’s Project Ara is based on the goal of giving consumers more choice in terms of its capabilities, appearance, composition, cost, and life span. Google will do that by providing the basic frame, or ‘endoskeleton,’ that can hold the swappable modules of batteries, storage, processors, cameras, speakers, and other components — as opposed to a slab of a phone whose parts cannot be tinkered with. The strategy could help Google get smartphones into the hands of millions or even billions of people who’ve never had them,” reported VentureBeat.

“Architecturally, though, the model isn’t completely new. Do-it-yourself types have built computers containing only the components they want for several years. Even servers for data centers have seen a similar level of customization, thanks to Facebook’s Open Compute Project. With Project Ara, this degree of personalization could come to smartphones at scale,” they added.

The lucky ‘test subjects’ for this new technology are the people of Puerto Rico.

The tech giant announced that it will start a pilot program on the island.

Google said in a statement,” Puerto Ricans are mobile first …The carrier landscape is diverse and competitive with U.S., Latin American, and local carriers. As a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico is under FCC jurisdiction so we would continue our work with the FCC on a regulatory approach for Ara. Puerto Rico is a gateway from the U.S. to the world … It is well-connected as a communications, logistics and trade hub. It has designated free trade zones which we can use for importing modules from developers worldwide. University of Puerto system (all 11 campuses) have joined the ATAP Multi-University Research Agreement (MURA) which provides an agile and flexible mechanism for engaging individual faculty and labs in research to support Ara and other ATAP projects.”

In perhaps one of the more ridiculous lawsuits Apple has been involved in, the company is being sued over the size of its latest mobile operating system, iOS 8.

The suit argues that while Apple does state how large the operating system will be once it is installed, the company has made it to be large, reducing the amount of usable memory on an iPhone and forcing users to purchase extra iCloud storage.


The lawsuit specifically targets devices with only 16 GB of memory, and seeks class action status on behalf of others who purchased 16 GB devices. It also, however, accuses Apple of not working with third-party cloud storage providers to allow users to upload their files to those providers.



Apple  has not responded to the lawsuit, but it is likely that it won't be long before it is dismissed from the court. This is not the first time that the company has been accused of misleading users about storage. In 2007, iPod Nano users filed a lawsuit against the company for advertising that devices had 8 GB of storage when they only had 7.45 GB. The case was ultimately dismissed.

It is highly likely that this case won't get very far, especially considering the fact that other cloud storage options are available to users.

In 2012, Microsoft was sued for falsely advertising the storage on the Surface Pro tablets. The tablets were running a more storage-hungry Windows, essentially meaning that less than half of the 32 GB advertised was available for the user.

The Apple lawsuit is seeking a whopping $5 million in damages, saying that devices lose between 18.1 percent and 23.1 percent of their onboard storage.