"Imagine asking mobile operators to compete in an auction for the chance to offer you service and then switching from one operator to the next multiple times a day to get the best rate or more bandwidth. Picture doing this without any of the hassles associated today with switching carriers – no early-termination fees, phone number transfers or new-handset purchases.

Google has sketched a plan for such a system in a patent application. Initially filed in March 2007, the application, which is not available on Google's Patent Search site, was posted on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office site on Thursday."

http://www.pcworld.com/article/151595/.html

Yeah, I saw it, too, but decided it's early days yet to find out if it would work. For starters, unless Google proposes to abolish the entire existing cellular infrastructre, i.e. contracts tied to specific carriers, it'd (it will!) have to pose as Yet Another Carrier in the network itself, albeit one with somewhat more flexible, and potentially lower, pricing structure. And because it'd have to depend on benevolent coöperation of the very carriers it tries to outcompete, that bid-on-per-connection basis would also make it less cost-predictable in advance for the end-user. So there are lots of "ifs" and "maybes" here.....

[Moved from "Google -> Telecom -> Lowest bid Patent" – Tony]

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080232574.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080232574&RS=DN/20080232574

On the dutch site I read about this they made the assumption that Google will most likely not use this patent... any thoughts?

[Moved from "Google plans to enable mobile users calling the shots" – Tony]

http://digg.com/tech_news/Google_plans_to_enable_mobile_users_calling_the_shots