There is little doubt the iPhone, the Droid and other Android phones have been the most technologically advanced cell phone to date. It could be the Apple boys are in for a surprise, however, as the gang from Google gets ready to bring their contender to the cell phone market. Google is continuing to be fairly tight lipped about the android competing handset, but enough information is leaking out to cause a stir among many users and marketers alike.

Reports are surfacing that Google has released testing models of the handset to employees for market testing. The Google blog itself has confirmed the new phone’s existence. The Nexus One will be sold unlocked, meaning it will give Google the control over both the hardware and the software without having to deal with interference from carriers. It runs Android 1 and will be sold online by Google. The problem with an unlocked phone is the cost, which is about twice the cost of phones sold by wireless carriers. Unlocked phones have not yet been successful in the U.S.

When a person buys an unlocked phone, they need to remove the SIM card in the phone and have the wireless carrier they choose activate it in order to get service. The problem is many carriers won’t unlock a phone they haven’t sold themselves. Nokia is the world’s largest phone manufacturing company and it’s direct sales stores in the US have failed.

There is speculation as to Google’s motives for producing the phone, which is said to be thinner than the iPhone. It doesn’t seem likely that Google is moving into the telephone market, so some analysts are questioning whether the phone will sell at a lower cost to customers who agree to allow some type of advertising on their phones. One major clue to this line of thinking is the Google purchase of AdMob in November, 2009. Admob, a leader in mobile advertising, provides display ads to mobile phone products. The purchase cost Google $750 million in stock.

Don’t expect to use the Nexus One with your Verizon phone plan, however. The GSM phone will be affiliated with AT&T and T-Mobile and then only on the EDGE, 3G network. Expect to begin seeing sales of the Nexus One as early as January. Can this be the phone that finally rivals the iPhone? It’s too soon to tell, but the competition is certainly all good for the cell-phone crazed public both in the US and abroad.

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