Google and Nokia team up for Talk

Nokia have teamed up with Google to produce an updated version of the 770 internet tablet. Using the Google Talk VoIP system, the device won’t have traditional mobile phone capabilities but be a PDA or handheld computer with Wi-Fi for fast internet access and voice data transfer. Not only will it have these pretty new functions, but the Nokia 770 will also feature a high spec video and music player making it a good multimedia choice.

However, having been designed more as a “mobile web browsing device” than a PDA or phone, the 770 is a Linux based system, making it a very specific product for an already narrow market. While Google is popular among the veteran gmail subscribers (like myself), it wasn’t the most obvious choice for Nokia to take. For those of you who’ve lived in a cave in southern Yemen for the last two years, Google Talk is an IM (instant messaging) service capable of making SIP calls.

Whether the Nokia 770 takes off or not is sort of incidental to this news, because what this announcement means is that Google and Microsoft have found yet another battle ground for market share. With Microsoft’s UMPCs (Ultra Mobile PCs) on the horizon, and Nokia marketing their Tablets as cheaper alternatives, Google have chosen their side in the war, and once again it’s against Mr. Gates and co. It’s better than Eastenders this stuff, I tell ye.