T-Mobile Sells 1 Million Google Android Phones

Google's Android operating system is finding traction with T-Mobile customers, who have snapped up a million Android-powered smartphones from the carrier since the device's debut in October 2008.

Deutsche Telekom announced its stateside subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, has sold one million G1 Android smartphones since its debut six months ago. The phone is powered by Google's open-source operating system, Android. The announcement was made during the parent company's earnings announcement earlier this week and was first reported by the blog Telephony Unfiltered.

T-Mobile, the U.S.'s fourth-largest wireless network operator with 32.1 million customers, first began selling the G1 smartphone on Oct. 22, 2008. The phone's hardware, built by HTC, is also marketed as the HTC Dream. T-Mobile USA is also working hard to provide 3G service capability to more of its customers; it currently reaches 107 million, far behind competitors such as AT&T or Verizon but far ahead of where the company was half a year ago.

The revelation comes just as the Android operating system is beginning to gain traction after a shaky start. Earlier this month, a report surfaced that T-Mobile is planning to move more of its communication devices over to Android. The New York Times quoted T-Mobile spokesman Peter Dobrow, who declined to discuss specific products but said the company has "several devices" planned for Android. Confidential documents obtained by The Times reveal T-Mobile is planning to release a home telephone running on Android early next year, followed by a tablet computer.

In recent weeks, companies such as Samsung and Hewlett-Packard revealed they are also looking at adopting Google's open-source operating system for various mobile devices, though HP was quick to point out the company might select another operating system.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt certainly feels strongly about Android's chances this year: During a conference call last week, Schmidt said he thinks it looks like Android is going to have a "very, very strong year." He said the company's open-source strategy was working and hinted at future announcements.

"There are announcements happening between now and the end of the year that are quite significant from operators and new hardware partners in the Android space, which I won't preannounce except to say that they really do fulfill much of the vision that we laid out more than a year ago," he said during the call. "On the netbook side, there are a number of people who have actually taken Android and ported it over to netbook or netbook-similar devices."

Google is also bolstering Android on the application side. On Thursday, Google announced a mobile-friendly version of its Product Search application, emphasizing its utility for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Product Search allows users to type whatever they're searching for into the search bar and receive results pulled from a variety of shopping sites.