Who Will Be The Wireless Industry's Next Glamour Couple?

The rumors about Google and Verizon Wireless working on tablet PCs suggest that the two companies are now officially "going steady," just like Apple and AT&T, the wireless industry's incumbent 'Brangelina' pairing.

The question now becomes: What carrier is Microsoft going to team up with for Windows Phone 7 devices? Microsoft has Windows Mobile partnerships with all four major U.S. carriers, but it's not clear how things will shake out with Windows Phone 7, which is slated to arrive on devices this holiday season.

AT&T has been crowing about being a "premier" Windows Phone 7 partner. But Microsoft has downplayed this, saying only that AT&T, along with Orange in Europe, will be able to differentiate their devices through unique software and services.

"We're working closely with AT&T and a variety of other partners to bring Windows Phone 7 to market this holiday," a Microsoft spokesperson told CRN in July.

Microsoft and Sprint, meanwhile, have had a multi-faceted mobile partnership in place since 2006, and in the run-up to this year's Consumer Electronics Show there was persistent speculation about Microsoft and Sprint teaming up with LG to launch a Wi-Max enabled Windows Mobile 4G smartphone.

That ended up not happening, but Alan Gould, president and CEO of Westlake Software, a wireless solution provider in Calabasas, Calif., believes there's still a chance that the Microsoft-Sprint partnership could blossom into something more meaningful. "Google could buy Verizon, Apple could buy AT&T and Microsoft could buy Sprint -- then the wireless race really gets going," he said.

By way of explanation, Gould continued: "The carriers' debt financing is an immediate write-off for all that Silicon Valley money. And Google, Apple and Microsoft all instantaneously get into a major market segment with recurring revenue and a base of users to upsell to."

In any event, the carrier-and-OS partnership has already borne fruit for two high profile industry couples, so other companies might decide to follow the lead of Apple-AT&T and Google-Verizon. But some industry experts believe the success of Google and Verizon's alliance, which began with Android smartphones and now appears to be branching out into tablets, has as much to do with marketing as it does with technology.

When AT&T and Apple formed their iPhone partnership in 2007, Verizon looked around and figured out that Google would be a logical partner because Android could be molded to fit the carrier's needs, says Allen Nogee, a wireless industry analyst with In-Stat in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Although T-Mobile jumped in earlier with its own Android alliance, Nogee says Verizon realized that multiple operators wouldn't be a problem because it has the marketing and advertising muscle to carve out its own niche: The Droid brand of smartphones.

"When you think about it, it's a great way to market your products if you have the resources to pull it off, and Verizon does," Nogee said.