The Googlephone, or gPhone, could be arriving as soon as early 2010 but its arrival may be met with some hostility from networks and specific software vendors as it threatens to disrupt their business.

We recently brought you rumours that suggested the first few months of 2010 for the Googlephone’s launch and a new report at The Times Online also suggests this, citing Ashok Kumar – an analyst at financial services company Northeast Securities – as the source for the predicted release date, as well as “other experts”.

Kumar suggests that the arrival might not be welcomed by some mobile companies though. Naturally, manufacturers that use the Google Android OS have fears that in future, the best of the operating system’s features might be reserved for Google-branded handsets.

Similarly, with the introduction of Google Voice on Google’s own handsets, customers will be able to make largely free domestic calls to landlines and mobiles, and only a few pence (per minute) to call international numbers.

Sounds good, right? Well, it is for the customer, but not so much for the networks. Free Internet calling would massively reduce lucrative call revenues, while at the same time increasing data usage that is often bundled with contracts on an ‘unlimited’ basis.

Not known for its shy and retiring nature, Google will undoubtedly launch the Googlephone project with all the gusto it can muster, whether or not it cannibalises new areas of the mobile market remains to be seen – look out Skype.

Via knowyourmobile