Edible Apple

Scott Moritz of The Street isn’t generally the most trustworthy source on the web, but in the interest of discussion and rumor mongering, we’ll pass along some info Moritz relayed about a supposed upcoming Google branded phone.

In what is likely to be seen as disruptive to the wireless status quo, Google is working with a smartphone manufacturer to have a Google-branded phone available this year through retailers and not through telcos, according to Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar, who has talked to Google’s design partners about the plan.

The move would fulfill Google’s pledge to bring a new generation of open-standard mobile Internet devices to consumers. By bypassing the carriers, who keep tight controls over the features and applications that are allowed on phones, Google will presumably offer a device that lets users determine the functions.

This type of info by itself might ordinarily be dismissed, but in light of recent reports that Google played a direct role in the development of the upcoming Motorola Droid, the story takes on a new and more believable bent.  If you recall, when Boy Genius Report conducted the first hands-on with the upcoming Droid, a source close to the project informed them that “Google had a direct hand in the Motorola Droid. Something to the point of almost dictating every move Motorola made when designing and making the phone.”

That level of involvement is only 1 step away from Google actually developing their own branded smartphone, which makes the above report a heck of a lot more believable.