Google says mobile phones should be free

Nov 14 2006 - 01:12 PM ET | In The News

Google's CEO recently said that mobile phones should be free and monetized by advertising. This sounds exactly like the business plan of Xero Mobile, a pre-launch MVNO that has attracted attention because of a connection to some former Gizmondo executives.

"Your mobile phone should be free," Schmidt told Reuters. "It just makes sense that subsidies should increase" as advertising rises on mobile phones.

Schmidt later noted that Google is not currently taking any moves to make this happen. Perviously the ambitious CEO has said that he believes in terms of Google search volume, mobile phones are going to eclipse PCs in only a few years.