San Francisco — Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile unit is to launch the first smartphone based on Google Inc.’s Android in the fourth quarter, in hopes that the new device will compete with Apple Inc.’s iPhone, and Research in Motion Ltd., according to a new report.
This is not a big surprise. It has long been expected that T-Mobile and HTC would be among the first Android partners to actually ship a product, but the timing had been unclear. Android is Google’s new open source software designed for mobile cell phones.
The smartphone will be manufactured by Taiwan-based High Tech Computer, and will have a large touch screen that slides out to reveal a five-row QWERTY keyboard.
The announced was made by T-Mobile’s Chief Executive Officer Hamid Akhavan at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, ison schedule according to plan, said Maika-Alexander Stangenberg, a spokesman at Bonn-based T-Mobile.
HTC has confirmed its commitment to producing an Android phone sometime this year again and again. The phones will be manufactured by HTC, one of the largest makers of cell phones in the world, and is expected to challenge Apple’s iPhone as well as other smartphones that run software from Palm, RIM (Research in Motion), Microsoft and Nokia.
It is the only hardware manufacturer that has publicly said that it is going to give Android a chance. Android is designed to help cell phones connect to the Internet. HTC’s CEO said as much in November 2007, shortly after Google announced Android. HTC is moving at a good speed if it believes it can have something available for sale by November.
The HTC phone will have a touch screen, like the iPhone. But the screen also slides out to expose a full five-row keyboard. The phone is expected to be available in the U.S. by Christmas, and maybe as early as October.
Google released Android last November as open source. The software is designed to help smartphones to easily connect to the Internet.
Silicon Alley Insider says they spoke to someone who has actually played with the HTC Android phone, and who deems it “technically powerful but not as elegant as Apple’s iPhone and OS X.” That is not all that unexpected, really; Google’s stated mission has always been to offer carriers and phone makers a basic set of software for getting phones onto the Internet, not a high-end integrated smartphone like the iPhone.
Additional startling news echoed by The New York Times that Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s largest phone company, said last month sales of the new iPhone, which runs on so-called third-generation networks, beat its targets. Complaints about poor reception and disconnected calls have since appeared on Web sites and blogs for Apple users.
Stangenberg would not comment on the report. T-Mobile sells smartphones made by HTC under its own brand. The Taoyuan, Taiwan- based company is a member of the Open Handset Alliance developing the Android platform.
The Android cell phone may be announced next month before its debut, depending how quickly the Federal Communications Commission certifies Android that the software and phone meets the required network standards, the New York Times said.
The device, which will be called the G1, will sell for $150 to T-Mobile customers in the first week of launch before it is offered to other customers at a higher price.
“Testing the Platform”
“To prepare for Android’s public launch, we are testing the platform on a variety of devices,” Erin Fors, a spokeswoman at Google, wrote by e-mail. “We have nothing to announce at this time.”
HTC President Peter Chou on Aug. 4 reiterated a forecast for the company’s first phone equipped with Google’s operating system to go on sale in the fourth quarter, without providing further details.
Android will help Google to expand its successful advertising business into the increasingly lucrative mobile market. It released the parameters to an alliance of mobile phone carriers, developers and manufacturers earlier in the year. However, there will be many challenges ahead to displace established players such as Apple.
In any event, it will still be nice to actually have an Android handset out in the market, almost a year after Google confirmed its mobile phone project. Google will be competing against other operating system licensers such as Symbian and Microsoft for design wins around the world, and evaluating its chances against those entrenched players will get easier after reviewers get a chance to handle the merchandise.