Months of speculation have fueled the announcement by Google this week of a new cell phone system that offers not a new device, but a free platform that makes a mobile device operate more like a personal computer. Google is taking several revolutionary steps to make this product a reality, including allowing dozens of companies to have access to its source code and design the system. It's also inviting third parties to design add-ons that allow video playback, mp3 capabilities, and syncronization code to allow whatever device the system is operating on to automatically sync with computer calenders and address books.

This system can also run on the most ordinary of cellular devices, unlike current PDA systems that come on expensive and complicated machines. Until now, these third parties would have to design their products with the permission and compatability of each individual carrier; with this technology, Google will make that step obsolete. But unlike the numerous companies who have jumped on board this project in order to regain some of the customers they've lost in recent years (namely Sprint and T-Mobile), others like Microsoft seem to be welcoming the competition.