Interesting:

The Austrian branch of the carrier orange.com today stated it would not try to offer the Google phone to its customers. According to this German article, they find Google's business model "hardly attractive" for carriers and consumers and consider it "problematic if Google can access customers' data via this phone and market them afterwards."

I somehow doubt that these are the only reasons for Orange to reject the device. Still I find it highly interesting that a major carrier (and not some geeky privacy club that never gets heard) publicly points out the risks of using Google phones. It certainly made the headlines today...

Probably they want their customer data all of themselves...

But one good thing is that they are raising the privacy concern to more ears... This kind of stuff spreads like fire when people chit-chat.

Probably.
Plus: They sell other Android based phones (and announced to introduce new ones in the future). Of course any privacy concern about the Nexus One would be valid for each and every other Android phone... It's just marketingbabble.

Whatever. I like it being a headline in several Austrian media today.

wow! I've become ridiculously anti-google lately, mostly because I think that companies who grow quickly and spread out like google automagically become evil IMO, but I always thought it was just me. Perhaps I'm not as delusional as I thought.

@mece shhhhh... they are listening...

It is nice that Orange Austria and more predictably the European or EU officials occasionally side with the people (or "customers").

Google's hoarding of all possible data on their users/customers and possibly even those people communicating through Google's services does indeed require regulation.

However I believe the specific quote "problematic if Google can access customers' data via this phone and market them afterwards" may be misleading as Google isn't (supposedly) selling the data itself but merely directed advertising access to the users generating that data.

Still, users should be allowed to choose which data they allow Google (et al) to analyse in order to "serve them better". E.g. fishing expeditions into my phone's or computer's directories, unless specifically allowed, should be strictly out of bounds.

Of course, the carriers themselves have a bigger business problem with Google wrt. being (deservedly mind you) reduced to mere dumb pipes for users' unadulterated internet traffic and especially with Google Voice features which threaten their holy IDD cash cows.

There's a general New Deal looming for the telephony/mobile market and so far only Apple and Google have found lucrative "extra-curricular" business models for connecting user to content while some (former) kings of the hill (like Nokia and MS) really struggle with the transition.

"It’s nothing personal, guys. Today, some of the biggest tech companies in the world, who thought they were Google’s closest partners, will begin to understand how, say, copyright holders have felt for some time now"
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01...tner_friendly/

The Register has Google envy, like Engadget has Nokia, so everything you read there take it with a grain of salt...

A lot of salt I'd say. Why I understand why Motorola and other adopters of Android might feel betrayed in a business sense, the comments about hypocritical openness sound like sour grapes. Android is not really open because Google is hawking their own superphone? So openness means anyone in their world should be able to market a phone using Android, EXCEPT Google?

Others might perceive the logo as a little robot, I see a green bug-head. Just a mild case of pareidolia i hope...
Sums up my relationship towards android quite well though.

And not to mention that even if your not using an Android device or Chrome browser your likely using Google's services. Or your browsing websites that have Google's tracking cookie. Though there may be additional privacy concerns with Android devices. For example, location. While Google may get a glimpse of your location whenever you use their services on say the N900, on the Android they may have 24/7 (as long as your device is on) access to your location.

Of course so does the government and your telcos as long as you have telephone service.