Citing sources close to the project, The New York Times is reporting that mobile operator T-Mobile is planning to launch the first smartphone based on Google’s Android open platform. The QWERTY-equipped smartphone will be manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC, and should be on sale in the United States before the end-of-year holidays…with The New York Times speculating it may launch as soon as October.
If the HTC Android handset gets FCC approval and goes on sale in 2008, it will significantly lead what’s anticipated to be a wave of Android-powered devices expected to hit the market in 2009. Unlike the proprietary platforms used by the Apple iPhone and Windows Mobile devices, Google’s Android platform offers an open, standardized API that, in theory, gives application developers considerable freedom to deploy new mobile services and applications without getting into bed with a handset maker or mobile carrier. However, some Android developers haven’t found the path as smooth as one might hope, owing to variations in the capabilities of specced Android-capable phones and areas of the SDK that are still in development.
U.S. carrier Sprint is also a member of the Open Handset Alliance—the group of industry players backing Android—but have not yet committed to a timeframe for offering Android-based phones. AT&T and Verizon have not made any commitment to Android.
