"At this point in time, we are very focused on the software, not the phone," The Australian Financial Review today quoted Kimber as saying during his speech at the Search Engine Room conference in Sydney. Kimber said Google was keen on porting its search and other technologies to mobile devices, but it was not interested in entering the crowded handset market, as Apple has recently done with its iPhone.

This is highlighted by recent deals Google has made with manufacturers such as Samsung, resulting in its search software coming preloaded on certain handsets. Extending Google's search technology to mobile phones would allow it to serve advertising to a far wider audience - particularly those in developing countries who do not have access to a computer. Kimber said mobile ads posed unique challenges but described them as being "extremely effective".

In a telephone interview earlier this month, Dr Cerf, who is credited with being one of the founders of the internet, said "becoming an equipment manufacturer is pretty far from our business model". "On the other hand, we're very interested in the platforms that other people are building. We are quite eager to be part of the mobile revolution."

A Google Australia spokesman said the company was focused on developing partnerships with existing industry players but did not confirm or deny that Google was developing a handset. "Mobile is an important area for Google and we remain focused on creating applications and establishing and growing partnerships with industry leaders to develop innovative services for users worldwide," he said. Google's latest comments are at odds with the slew of recent reports that suggested it was shopping a phone design to potential mobile phone manufacturing partners in Asia.

In a note to clients, sighted by Reuters, London-based phone analyst Richard Windsor wrote: "Google has come out of the closet at the CeBIT trade fair admitting that it is working on a mobile phone of its own. "This is not going to be a high-end device but a mass-market device aimed at bringing Google to users who don't have a PC."

A US venture capitalist, Simeon Simeonov, wrote in a blog post earlier this month that there was "a team of about 100 people at Google working on the Google Phone". Simeonov said his "inside source close to the company" described the device as being a "BlackBerry-like, slick device". He added a number of recent mobile-related acquisitions made by Google backed up the rumours. Samsung was widely rumoured to be Google's manufacturing partner; a photo published on the Engadget blog, which purported to be a prototype, showed a sparse touchscreen design similar to the iPhone.

But all of these rumours now appear to be quashed, bringing back memories from a year ago when Google was said to be building its own line of computers. Those reports were soon proved false, and the product Google was working on turned out to be a free software pack.