Ever since we heard the news that Google was building a branded smartphone one question has been running through my mind; why? Google is a massive, powerful corporation with stockholders and employees to be accountable for. They don't just embark on wild hares to make all of the tech geeks squeal. If Google is working on a phone, they've got to have something in mind that's more than just a really good Android-running mobile. But what?

Thanks again to TechCrunch we might have that answer already. Fairly recently Andy Rubin of Google seemed to deny the idea of a Gphone straight away. He "scoffed" at the possibility that Google would "compete with its customers" by releasing a phone. However, that doesn't equate to an all-out denial of the Google phone...as long as it's not really a phone.

Michael Arrington thinks that Google could be working on a data-driven mobile device that does all of its calling through a VOIP service. Google's already acquired a VOIP company and, thanks to Google Voice, has the ability to issue phone numbers. Could both of these things just be two steps along Google's road to a Dataphone?

Yes. As Arrington points out, Google already proposed running a mobile phone over a data service back in 2007. The ground work has been laid for a while, and now it sounds like Google could be stepping up for the final stage of their plan. It's not a plan that's going to make any of the cell carriers happy, but somehow I doubt that weighs on their conscience much.