Brightpoint secures deal with Google

By Jamie Hergott
Hendricks County Flyer (Avon, Ind.)

PLAINFIELD, Ind. February 25, 2008 12:08 pm

— Early this month, wireless-device provider Brightpoint, Inc., announced it has sealed a deal with Google to install Google Search and Google maps to Brightpoint’s smartphones.
Negotiations began in mid-2007 when Google entered the wireless space. Anurag Gupta, Brightpoint’s senior vice president of global strategy, investor and public relations, said the value that Google functions will add to their devices is immeasurable.
“It’s absolutely a big deal,” Gupta said. “The Internet surge in mobile devices has become a huge thing. Whether it’s Google or Apple iPhone or Microsoft-based Windows mobile devices, there is a huge demand for these applications and features.”
Brightpoint will pre-install a range of smartphones, including those running on Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Palm, Symbian, and other OS-powered devices with Google Search and Google Maps for mobile. Gupta said these phones have not yet been shipped but shipment will be “in the near future.”
These smartphones and their bells and whistles, Gupta said, are slowly taking over the wireless device market.
“Smartphones will consist of 15 to 20 percent of all the wireless mobile devices sold this year,” Gupta said.
That total number of devices sold around the globe is between 1.25 and 1.35 billion. He attests the phone’s popularity not only to what it can do, but what it will do in the future.
“For example, Windows mobile devices are smart phones,” Gupta said. “It’s an extension of your desktop. Everything is in the palm of your hand. With the Microsoft calendar, contact, and e-mail, it’s as if you’ve never left your desk.”
He said that smartphones initially started primarily as an enterprise device for businesses professionals. But they have evolved well beyond that, and are popular with all ages for many reasons. Gupta references the Nokia Multimedia Device, which he calls an “ultimate entertainment portable device,” complete with photos, videos, file sharing, and even access to YouTube.
Gupta says he sees the possibilities as endless; in fact, some innovations are probably not too far in the future.
“This is a tip of the iceberg,” Gupta said. “What’s next? All of these networks becoming higher speed networks with more bandwidth, which will lead into services like mobile banking, mobile TV, mobile advertising, even your wireless device being used as a remote control. Maybe it could even act a garage opener or it can start your car. If mobile banking takes off, you may not even need to carry credit cards or a wallet because you will do everything via e-wallet. It will be all you need to have.”
Brightpoint, whose global headquarters are in Plainfield, generated $4.3 billion in revenue in 2007 and handled about 83 million wireless devices. Gupta projects that the company will handle more than 100 million this year.
“We are growing faster than the industry,” Gupta said, referencing figures showing that the company grew last year by 55 percent in terms of unit growth while the wireless industry grew a mere 18 percent.
“But the demand for applications will only rise,” he said. “Soon you will need more.”

Jamie Hergott writes for the Hendricks County Flyer in Avon, Ind.