Engadget's Chris Ziegler reports today that Google's planned mobile handset is no longer just a rumor.

"Isabel Aguilera, Google's chief executive in Spain and portugal, has admitted that the searchmeisters have some mobile goodness in the works but appeared to play down the project, noting that the phone is just one of 18 R&D initiatives the company currently has underway," Ziegler writes.

One of 18 R&D initiatives? As Mobile Magazine's Michael Kwan points out, "It's been 'confirmed' in a sense, but I'd still take this 'announcement' with a grain of salt."

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