So there's going to be a Google phone?

Nope. No 'G-phone'. No attempt by Google - not yet, anyway - to completely take charge of the way you interact with the world via your mobile.

What's this all about then?

It's called the Open Handset Alliance and it's essentially a broad coalition of partners from within the telecommunications industry, led by Google, who are collaborating on a free, openly available and customisable operating system for mobile phones.

Meaning, in English?

There's a move to make the experience of using the internet on mobiles much, much better.

Can't I already access the web on my phone?

You can but it's typically quite disappointing. The browser has been very limited and there's been an attempt by operators to control access to the internet via their own portals, meaning that people haven't found it nearly as enjoyable or easy using the web on their phones as they have on their computers.

How is Google going to improve the mobile internet?

Their new operating system, called Android, is an attempt to 'open up' a mobile phone's internet capability. That means that no longer will device manufacturers such as Motorola and HTC, or operators such as T-Mobile, have the final say in the way the internet, or other web-based services, appear to owners of the device. Instead users would be free to customise their phones how they liked. Put another way: if the phone is a blank canvas and the web and all its groovy features - YouTube, Google Maps, Skype, Facebook, E-mail, Messaging - colours on the palette, then Android will let owners paint how they like. At least in theory.

Isn't it all a bit utopian?

To some extent. Providers of web services - like Google - will still want to deals with handset manufacturers and operators to have their service or application appear prominently when a user plucks a phone off the shelf. So a phone's internet capabilities will, to some extent, still be 'mapped out' when a person signs up for a contract. It remains to be seen how easy operators selling Android-powered phones will make it for customers to get new services.

When can we except this to start?

Manufacturers have said the first Android-powered devices will be available in the second half of next year.

What do operators think about it?

They're sceptical, which is why most - with the exception of T-Mobile - haven't signed on just yet. Google knows that the mobile internet revenue model is to take a share in the advertising that is sold alongside various web-based services which is why it supports any move to broaden the number of services available. It can then serve the ads when people use them. Operators also want to increase revenues from web services, but they'd rather have greater control over how it is generated. It's unlikely, on one of the new Google-powered handsets, that as much control would rest with the operators as it does now.

Who else is a part of the alliance?

More than 30 companies - many of them giants in the industry. Motorola, Samsung, and HTC, the handset makers, Qualcomm, one of the world's leading chip-set manufacturers, and T-Mobile are just a few. Apple isn't taking part. It has made a commitment to 'open up' its iPhone, so that developers - people who write programs like YouTube or Skype - will be free to write applications for it, but broad industry coalitions such as Google's aren't really its style.

Might Google still launch its own handset?

Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, hasn't ruled it out. What he has said is that were a Google phone to come to market, Android would be a great 'platform' on which to run it.

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