Marketing Pilgrim

While the WSJ is speculating, Marketing Pilgrim is all about confirming, and we can confirm that Google will indeed bid on the new 700MHz wireless band.

According to Google, its formal application to participate in the 700 MHz auction will be filed with the FCC on Monday, December 3, 2007 — the required first step in the auction process.

“We believe it’s important to put our money where our principles are,” said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google in a statement. “Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today’s wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet.”

Despite early speculation that Google was bluffing about any bid, its Open Handset Alliance pretty much guaranteed that Google would make a run for the new wireless channel. Whether or not Google had already made its final decision before Verizon decided to take Google on, we don’t know. What we do know is that if Google wins, you can finally kiss goodbye to locked networks, long contracts, and crippled cell phones.