During a recent speech on business innovation held at Standford’s Graduate School of Business, Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated that he believes mobile phones should be free. Schmidt believes that as the capabilities of cells expand and more-and-more people start carrying PocketPCs, advertising will become a viable platform for mobile users.
If this does indeed occur, cell providers could use advertising to buffer the cost to the consumer. Indeed, Yahoo is already beginning to implement methods to put this platform in action.
While Schmidt recognizes that this could be a distant speck on the horizon, he related the future of free mobile phones to the history of newspapers. Since newspapers started relying on advertising to revenue, their price to consumers has declined drastically. Perhaps one day, rather than paying $60 a month for mobile service, we can choose to instead be inundated by throngs of pop-up ads on our cells.
Google CEO: Free cellphones for all, if… [CNN Money]