Google Phone: Fact or Fiction?

The blogosphere is rife with rumors of a possible Google phone, even though the tech behemoth won't confirm the gossip—but it has been investing heavily in the mobile search market. The buzz: The so-called GPhone would offer mobile phone service free, as long as customers can stomach the advertising, the LA Times reports.

One blogger says it will slaughter the iPhone; another predicts it will cost just $100. Google has traditionally preferred teaming with hardware companies to making its own gadgets. A GPhone would mean a radical change in the company's business model, but with cellphones becoming one of the main portals for Internet access, it may well be worth the risk. (More iPhone stories.)