He said he could not share specific details about the product.

The post appeared to be a response to a Twitter message posted by a Google employee Friday evening, who said she had the phone. The post, by TechCrunch, sparked the new round of speculation.

"ZOMG we had fireworks and we all got the new Google phone. It's beautiful," wrote Leslie Hawthorn, a program manager on Google's open source team.

While the term "Google phone" has been used to describe a device built and branded by Google, many also use the term to refer to any phone running Android. So it was unclear if Hawthorne was talking about a device that will be branded and sold by Google.

A podcast producer for CNET said Friday he had seen one of the phones, adding to the speculation. The hardware is made by HTC and running Android 2.1, the next generation of the software, Jason Howell in a Twitter message. The phones were given to employees unlocked and the one he saw was running on AT&T's network, he said. Because it is unlocked, workers could also choose to use T-Mobile.