Google phone in sci-fi naming row

An image of the 'Google phone' published by a Google employee on Twitter.

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As images of the hotly anticipated new Google phone bombard the blogosphere, revelations that it will be named Nexus One have dismayed the family of a famous science-fiction writer.

Isa Dick Hackett, daughter of author Philip K. Dick who wrote the novel that inspired the Blade Runner movie, said in an interview that she was "shocked and dismayed" by reports that the company had named its new smartphone Nexus One.

The new Google-branded phone will run on Google's own Android operating system, and is expected to be a strong rival to the iPhone

As president of the arm of Mr Dick's estate that handles film adaptations and the licensing of materials, Ms Hackett told the New York Times she believed the name had "a very obvious connection" to her father's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which centres around a generation of rogue Nexus-6 robots.

"We were never consulted, no requests were made, and we didn't grant any sort of permissions," said Ms Hackett, who is taking legal counsel on the matter.

Google is yet to make an official announcement about the name of the Nexus One, but it has already been sighted in two official documents. One of these was issued by HTC, widely reported to be the manufacturer of the device.

The New York Times has also revealed that Google filed a patent application for Nexus One with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

After weeks of rumour and speculation about the device, the company revealed it was testing a new mobile device last week among its employees, which has led to a proliferation of images and video clips of the smartphone on YouTube.

Market watchers are anticipating that Google will sell the device as an unlocked and unsubsidised smartphone.

"Given the lack of carrier subsidies and the fact that it's a GSM device, this is likely going to have much more significance outside of the US where GSM is the near-ubiquitous standard and where consumers are more used to the notion of acquiring phones independent of their carrier, said Jonathan Yarmis, a researcher at Ovum.

"This to me is the business model story. Selling a high-priced device is not very interesting. Selling a device that's subsidised by being an advertising platform as compared to being subsidised by a carrier is the news here," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News