T-mobile G1 smart phone - with Google’s Android Operating System was launched today
What is Android - Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. It is developed and continuously being improved by google and other programmers as its open source.
T-Mobile officially announce the first Android-powered handset on Sept. 23. Dream (or G1) (that’s what the phone was called before the launch) sport a large touch screen that flips out to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. The phone is now called the T-Mobile G1.
T-Mobile USA’s parent company Deutsche Telekom will also be selling the device starting in November in the United Kingdom through its T-Mobile service. And the phone will be available throughout the rest of Europe via T-Mobile starting in the first quarter of 2009.
The smartphone has built-in Wi-Fi, GPS, and is capable of using T-Mobile’s expanding 3G network. It’s expected to be on sale in mid-October, and the handset will undoubtedly have an entire industry watching it. For Google, Android is all about getting mobile users on the Internet where the search company can use its expertise to provide a better user experience. The operating system is royalty-free so hardware manufacturers can potentially spend their money on better hardware or on research and development.
Additionally, Google wants to make it easier for mobile users to download and add applications to their mobile devices like they can on a PC. The open source nature will potentially allow others to improve the software, like with the desktop Linux. The Linux-based open source platform and the Google-backed Open Handset Alliance are seeking to merge the openness of the Internet with the mobile space.
Android’s Demo
G1 offers an experience that is hard to match on other smartphones. Google applications, such as Gmail and Google Search have been tightly integrated into the phone’s directory, making it easy and intuitive to quickly send e-mails or forward Web links to contacts. The G1 also has embedded GPS capability that allows users to get Google Maps Street View on their phones. An internal compass even allows users to navigate and see where they’re going by moving the phone in different directions. But when it comes to actually making an impact on the market in terms of sales, T-Mobile and Google will have their work cut out for them. Without corporate e-mail support, it’s unlikely the phone will take a significant market share away from the market leaders in the U.S., RIM and Windows Mobile, at least in the near term.
“Not everyone who is interested in having a smartphone wants to check e-mail all the time. The G1 is about bringing the Web experience onto a phone and letting people do things with their phone they couldn’t do before.”
Leslie Grandy, VP of product development, T-Mobile USA
Strategy Analytics predict the Android smartphone will capture 4% of the U.S. smartphone market in the fourth quarter. This represents about 400,000 units sold, and it is a healthy figure considering the handset’s not expected to go on sale until the middle of the quarter.
