Are You Ready for the Google Phone?

Bye-bye, middleman. Google is planning on releasing a cellphone that it will sell directly to consumers as early as next year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Unlike other versions, Google designed almost the entire software experience for the new phones. The decision is a break from past practice: Rather than offering the phone through a wireless carrier, as most phones are sold, Google will sell the device itself, through its Web site, and users will have to buy separate cellular service on their own. According to the Journal, the move marks a ratcheting up of Google's attack on the mobile-phone industry.