Google to release Mobile phone next year

San Francisco (dpa) - Google is to release its own mobile platform next year in a bid to drastically shake up the cell-phone industry and provide mobile users with a host of new applications, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The paper said that Google planned to make a formal announcement of its plans in about two weeks.

The report said that Google was in talks with cellphone maker HTC of Taiwan and LG of South Korea to manufacture the phone, which would be tailored to Google software. Google is also seeking partnerships with wireless operators like Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA, France Telecom's Orange SA and and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s 3 in the UK.

The Google ogibe would make Google applications and services as easily accessible on mobile phones as PCs, so that the company can extend its advertising business to the more than 3 billion users of cell phones and other wireless devices.

Worldwide, mobile ad spending is expected to reach 1.5 billion dollars this year and grow to 11.3 billion dollars by 2011, according to market researcher Informa Telecoms & Media.

Until now, Google has pursued various strategies to tap this market, adapting Google websites for mobile browsers as well as preloading Google software in handsets like Apple's iPhone.