Here’s the Original ‘Google Phone’ Concept Prior to the Release of the iPhone [PICS]

The patent and copyright lawsuit between Google and Oracle has revealed numerous findings, such as how Apple’s iPhone reportedly makes more money than Android does for Google. Oracle sued Google in 2010 over claims Android OS infringes on Sun Microsystems patents (Oracle acquired Sun) and copyright in Java.

Now, The Verge reveals what Google had in mind for their first ‘Google phone’ and what they showed to carriers. This was back in 2006–before the release of the original iPhone. Google’s design was reminiscent of leading smartphones at the time: a tiny screen with a physical keyboard.

Check out the pictures below:

…and here were the leading smartphones at the time:

Apple’s ‘thermonuclear war’ on Android has been extensively documented here, and Steve Jobs said he was willing to spend every last penny of Apple’s cash to fight Android, in what he claims was a stolen product, as noted in the Walter Isaacson biography:

Our lawsuit is saying, “Google, you fucking ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off.” Grand theft. I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this. They are scared to death, because they know they are guilty. Outside of Search, Google’s products—Android, Google Docs—are shit.

Last November, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Android efforts started before the iPhone. The Verge notes the details of the ‘Google phone’ did not even have plans for a touchscreen, based on the following:

At that time, touchscreen support wasn’t a requirement — in fact, the baseline specs required two soft menu keys, indicating that touchscreens weren’t really in the plan at all.

The first Android phone unleashed on the world was the T-Mobile G1 (HTC Magic/Dream in Canada), which did sport a touchscreen. Did Google plan this themselves or borrow the idea from Apple?

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