“For more than two years, a large group of engineers at Google has been working in secret on a mobile phone project.”

So began Miguel Helft’s article in Sunday’s New York Times entitled “For Google, Advertising and Phones Go Together” — with a tease.

It isn’t until later in the article that Mr. Helft reveals the true news: That, despite industry expectations about the highly anticipated “Google Phone” (or “GPhone,” to some), there will in fact be no Google Phone.

At least, not according to some of the current expectations, which are based on the assumption that the Google Phone will be similar to Apple’s iPhone — a complete package of new hardware and software available for consumer purchase.

Instead, the article tells us, “Google’s goals are very different from Apple’s.”

While Google has built phone prototypes to test its software and show off its technology to manufacturers, the company is not likely to make the phones itself, according to analysts. …

At the core of Google’s phone efforts is an operating system for mobile phones that will be based on open-source Linux software, according to industry executives familiar with the project.

In addition, Google is expected to develop mobile versions of its applications that go well beyond the mobile search and map software it offers today. Those applications may include a Web browser to run on cellphones.

In short, Google is not creating a gadget to rival the iPhone, but rather creating software that will be an alternative to Windows Mobile from Microsoft and other operating systems, which are built into phones sold by many manufacturers. And unlike Microsoft, Google is not expected to charge phone makers a licensing fee for the software.

“The essential point is that Google’s strategy is to lead the creation of an open-source competitor to Windows Mobile,” said one industry executive, who did not want his name used because his company has had contacts with Google. “They will put it in the open-source world and take the economics out of the Windows Mobile business.”

Although much of the information on the Google Phone remains speculative, we may not have to wait much longer before we get some hard facts: “Google is expected to unveil the fruit of its mobile efforts later this year,” writes Mr. Helft, “and phones based on its technology could be available next year.”

Read the original article in the New York Times here.