Google’s Mobile blog says staff are “dogfooding” the device (a term that has long been standard at Microsoft). It says: “We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it.”

And I’d bet one of the things they’re testing is Google Voice, which was the application Apple refused to allow on the iPhone. It remains to be seen whether Apple will back down, because freedom from that kind of control could be one of the Gphone’s attractions.

Google could also make the Nexus One available reasonably cheaply because it will make money from the Google advertising that users will see when they use Google “properties” such as search, Gmail, YouTube, and so on. There could also be plenty of money-making opportunities in location-based services, such as directing users to the nearest eatery, bank, or whatever. It would be interesting to know what the lifetime value of a Gphone user might be, but Google must have done some calculations.

Although some blogs and magazines have confidently suggested the Nexus One will be launched in January, bear in mind there has been no official announcement, just a lot of speculation. But it is starting to look as though Google might be serious.

Nexus One, Google Phone launch on You Tube