The Android-based G1 smart phone from T-Mobile, Google and HTC is creating strong buzz even before the device hits the streets Oct. 22. Reports claim preorders for the device, which is based on Google's Android mobile operating platform, have already hit 1.5 million. The G1 is expected to provide strong competition to Apple's iPhone and RIM's recently announced BlackBerry Storm.
Just a week before T-Mobile's much anticipated G1 Android smart phone hits
the streets Oct. 22, rumors are swirling that preorders have hit 1.5 million.
T-Mobile has refused to confirm or deny the rumors about the first smart phone
to be powered by Google's Android operating system.
Even if the numbers are inflated, the presales demand
seems
to support T-Mobile's prediction that it will sell more than 500,000 units
by the end of 2008. HTC, which is
manufacturing the G1, has said it expects that T-Mobile will sell 600,000 to
700,000 units from late October through Dec. 31 and as many as 2 million by the
end of 2009.
Presale orders are currently limited to existing T-Mobile customers. Orders
placed before Oct. 21 will be shipped on or around Nov. 10. T-Mobile is selling
the G1 for $179, with a two-year voice and data service plan.
Inevitably, the initial sales of the G1 will be compared to those of the
Apple iPhone, which sold 1 million first-generation iPhones in 74 days in 2007
and a stunning 1 million iPhone 3Gs in three days in July.
Adding to the competition between the Google phone and the iPhone will be Research
In Motion's
BlackBerry
Storm-with its new tactile touch-screen-that will be exclusively available
on Verizon Wireless in the United States
in a matter of weeks.
With a look similar to the iPhone, the Storm comes with a 3.2-inch screen,
preloaded with Facebook, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. The device features
built-in GPS, a 3.2-megapixel camera, video
recording capability, a media player and a removable battery. Additional
applications will be available through a BlackBerry app store. The device is
expected to sell for approximately the same price as an iPhone.
As
previously
reported in eWEEK, the G1 boasts a touch-screen, a slide-out QWERTY
keyboard and a trackball to give users the most accessibility possible while
searching Web content from a mobile device.
Email
Print
