According to The Wall Street Journal, Google is close to unveiling its plans for the worst kept secret in tech, the Google Phone aka Gphone or gPhone (or any combination of those). This announcement should come sometime within the next couple of weeks with Google unveiling the software that will give the Gphone its ‘G’ and possibly an HTC or LG handset that will give Gphone its ‘phone’. An actual launch would follow sometime in mid-2008.

It’s pretty clear that most companies by now are recognizing the move of the Internet to mobile devices looks to be the next cash cow for the industry – and when you hear things like Apple is making $831 for every iPhone they sell, it should be no surprise. Yet there is even a much larger money well out there that remains virtually untapped so far – mobile advertising. Just imagine having the ability to serve up ads to people every single waking hour of the day no matter where they are. It’s enough to even make Google go ga-ga.

And so with the massive armies of major tech already fighting wars on the social networking frontlines, they prepare to open another offensive on the mobile sphere.

[via Mashable]