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Google Android will be loaded onto an HTC-produced smartphone for the Chinese market in June, according to a report published in The Wall Street Journal on May 26.
The Journal report added that HTC will load the Android mobile operating system onto a version of its Magic phone and that the device will likely retail for roughly $730. After starting out by selling smartphones equipped with Windows Mobile, HTC first offered an Android-equipped smartphone in 2008 and apparently means to expand on its repertoire to further penetrate the Chinese market.
China is not HTC’s only upcoming market for Android smartphones. The Android-equipped HTC Dream and HTC Magic smartphones will make an appearance in Canada in June via Rogers Wireless, one of the largest wireless carriers in that country. The HTC Magic features a touch-screen; the HTC Dream also has a QWERTY keyboard.
If analysts prove correct, Android, which made its debut in August 2008, will run on a full 12 percent of smartphones shipped globally by 2012.
Android is also reportedly on the verge of becoming a regularly utilized operating system for mininotebooks, aka netbooks.
Even as companies ranging from Panasonic to Sharp plan to release Android-equipped smartphones internationally, a number of PC makers such as Acer and Dell are preparing laptop-centric applications for the Android OS.
In an April 16 earnings call, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said he was “excited” about Android being ported over to netbooks.