Google Gphone touted for September

THE GPHONE is set to be announced in September and it will be cheap, according to rumours spread by bogger Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins.

Hopkins, who has a deep throat inside Google, claims that the device runs a modified version of the Linux kernel and has a built in GPS.

This will mean that it can power Google Maps and other with other Google apps like Gmail, Calendar and Docs. The phone will appear in the US by the end of the year.

Writing in his bog, Rizzn says that the gear "is less about beating the iPhone and more about beating the $100 Laptop" made by the OLPC project.

Google will flog the phones cheap and make cash from the ad revenue from targeted, text-based ads served to the phone. µ