At Cell Phone Trade Show, Eyes on Google

At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google kept to the shadows, holding meetings away from the crowds as it pursued its telecom future. But its presence was everywhere as companies discussed Android, Google’s new phone platform, the New York Times reports. Android faces resistance from phone software companies, who criticize Google’s business approach and argue that the platform isn’t secure.

Google aims to promote an open platform for phones: “By open, we mean users should be able to download any application and get to any service through the network,” said one Google manager. But the challenge for the Internet giant is convincing companies that “open doesn’t mean you have to give up revenue,” said the manager. (More Google stories.)