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Mobile & Wireless
T-Mobile launches first Android device
G1 handset utilizes Google's open-source platform
by Sam Bookman
The Android open source platform is heading out to test the waters of the mobile market with the launch of T-Mobile's G1, the first mobile device developed for Android.
T-Mobile, Google and HTC introduced the handset at a press conference Tuesday.
The G1 will make a direct run at the iPhone with its touch-screen technology, Internet browsing capability and music player. Other features include a slide-out texting keyboard and of course, numerous built-in Google applications including Google's search function, G-Mail accessibility, and a Chrome-like browser called Webkit.
The device is also clearly a selling point for T-Mobile's continued expansion of 3G in the U.S.: The G1 is optimized for 3G and Wi-Fi, though it will also work on a 2G network.
The device will begin selling October 22 in the U.S. for $179 with two data plans available: $25 for limited Web browsing and text messaging, or $35 for unlimited browsing and texting. The data plan must be purchased on top of a voice plan.
UK customers will be able to purchase the G1 beginning in November, though Europe's roughly 100 million potential customers won't see the device for sale until the first quarter of 2009.
The future of mobile Internet
Development of the G1 began about three years ago, according to Cole Brodman of T-Mobile USA, in tandem with Google and HTC, the device manufacturer. To Brodman, the G1 fills an important niche in the mobile market.
"Mobile broadband networks have been out for about three years now, but what has been lacking is devices that take advantage of these networks," he says.
U.S. consumers have not yet been won over by mobile Internet, either, he says. "The U.S. leads the world in mobile communications usage and text usage ... yet the U.S. lags in mobile Internet usage. They haven't found it very compelling yet."
Third parties will be a key driver in development of the Android platform, he says.
"We really believe that open is really going to drive the future of the mobile Internet."
Smartphone or feature phone?
While today's press conference focused on the G1's features and applications as the things that will attract consumers, ABI Research sounded a note of caution on that approach.
"Marketing based on capabilities has brought the smartphone market to less than 15% of worldwide handset sales," ABI stated in a release Tuesday.
The firm suggested that the ultimate goal of the Open Handset Alliance should be that users "eventually buy an Android-based phone without necessarily intending to buy a software-heavy handset."
ABI predicts that companies using the Android platform will sell toward the high-volume feature phone market, rather than the lower-volume smartphone market.
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