Talk about a sexy tech lead: "For more than two years, a large group of engineers at Google has been working in secret on a mobile phone project." Are you drooling yet? Well, just wait until the next paragraph: "But the GPhone is not likely to be the second coming of the iPhone--and Google's goals are very different from Apple's."

Oh, snap.

A story in Sunday's New York Times tech section posits that Google has, in fact, been hard at work on a hush-hush phone project for some time now, but those rumors and leaks about a Google Phone, or GPhone, that have been fueling tech blogs for at least as long as the iPhone has been a reality, are little more than that.

Instead, the company is, as ever, focused on the software side of things, hoping to expand their online ad dominance into the burgeoning mobile advertising space, with a model that will be unveiled later this year.

Based on open-source Linux software, the app will be, "an alternative to Windows Mobile from Microsoft and other operating systems, which are built into phones sold by many manufacturers." A free alternative.

In fact, the one major thing Google seems to have in common with Apple in this space is the desire to free up some control from mobile service providers.

Looks like Apple can breathe a sigh of relief--for now.