• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

T-Mobile Set To Announce Google Powered Phone

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 September 2008, 08:30 CDT

Last year, a Google announcement that it would give away software that was capable of running cell phones was met by praise from analysts saying the move would allow the Internet company to control the mobile advertising market.

On Tuesday, T-Mobile USA is set to unveil the first phone to use Android, Google's software platform.

Google plans to fight an uphill battle as it tries to please consumers and wireless carriers in an ever-changing market.

According to Strategy Analytics, T-Mobile could sell 400,000 phones this year, which would give Google 4 percent of the U.S. Market for “smart” phones.

The new phone, called the G1, is expected to have a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the G1 would sell for $199 and would carry the Google brand. 

Many analysts are not quite sure what the phone will be capable of, though most are confident the phone will be capable of Web browsing and e-mail. 

"This is the right moment for Google to answer some of the big questions that have been outstanding since Android was announced almost a year ago," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of the LiMo Foundation, a rival cell phone software company. "What will the consumer do on this handset that can't be done on other handsets?"

Last year, Verizon Wireless said LiMo, or Linux Mobile, would be the software provider for its phones.  The move made LiMo the one of the top competitors for Google's Android.

Like Android, LiMo is based on Linux computer software, and is free for phone makers. But the LiMo Foundation is seen as a consortium of industry participants while Android is seen as a Google project, increasing fears that one company will dominate the market similar to the way Microsoft has dominated the PC software market.

Symbian Ltd., a software supplier used by Nokia Corp., announced in June that is was being bought by Nokia and was going to be donated to a LiMo-like consortium, making its software available to manufacturers for free.

The move means more stiff competition to compete with Android.

Google has a leg up on the competition because it can offer its carriers a cut of its multibillion-dollar advertising system, should the Android advertising system succeed the way Google's web advertising has.

For years wireless operators have been searching for ways to make cell phones a welcoming place for advertisers, hoping to advertise based on user locations.

Currently carriers are not capable of doing that.  Google hopes to prove to manufacturers that they can change the landscape of wireless advertising the way they changed Internet advertising.

With the initial announcement of Android, Google saw its stocks increase to $747.24 a share, but time has seen the stock deflate to $430.14 at the close of trading on Monday.

Sprint Nextel Corp also plans to use Android along with T-Mobile.  Verizon Wireless has not ruled out the possibility of using Android phones, but is putting its resources into LiMo.  AT&T is also holding off on any decisions about Android.

"We will look at it and see if it makes sense for our customers," said Mark Siegel, spokesman for AT&T.

---

On the Net:

• Google Android
• Google Phone
• T-Mobile USA

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

More News in this Category