No sooner do we get done trash-talking Google than we hear they may be jockeying to take over the country's (the world's?!) cell phone business. If such an ambitious coup sounds implausible, click here for a persuasive prospectus from one Don Reisinger, writing for C-Net news. All they've got to do, says Reisinger, is win the FCC's upcoming auction of 700MHz wireless spectrum ' as how can they not? -- and the takeover will be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Few would challenge the assertion that Google has the competency and self-assurance to pull it off. But even more compelling, writes Reisinger, 'is the nature of the relationship between Google and telecommunications companies. Not only do they basically hate each other, they sit on directly opposite sides in the debate for Net neutrality. Simply put, I think Google would love to significantly damage these companies.' Has Gordon Gekko returned from the 1980s wearing sandals, a Gap Tshirt and cargo pants? For all we know, Google co-founder Sergey Brin eats guys like Gekko for breakfast. But he's not known for such toughness, and if Google has the jugular instinct, it has been nicely camouflaged by the calliope of colors in the company's logo, as well as by the 'Who, us?' demurrals when asked whether some of their Web-based applications have specifically targeted Microsoft's Office suite. Reisinger's provocative think-piece came too late on Friday to save GOOG from the 50-point thrashing it received after the company reported earnings that fell every so slightly shy of the Street's perversely all-important expectations. However, by day's end, the stock had recouped more than 20 points of it. That will likely suffice to have scared the bejeezus out of shorts, and to coax forth some panic buying by them when GOOG starts trading on Monday morning.
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