Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Android Lives! T-Mobile G1 Official Announcement
byIf there was ever any doubt that Google could breath life into the new mobile platform Android, today’s announcement should put the debate to rest. T-Mobile held a press conference this morning in NYC to officially announce the release of the world’s first handset powered by the Android platform. The simply named G1 will be in T-Mobile stores around the world on October 22nd selling for only $179. The two data plans mentioned at today’s event appear equally affordable at $25 for unlimited data and limited messaging or $35 for unlimited data and messaging. Factoring in the required voice plan put this phone at a similar price to the iPhone and other smartphone options.
Google played a low-key role in today’s announcement, acting more as support for the more techie questions about integration with Google services or how the Android platform scales. Andy Rubin of Google introduced Android as a “Future-proof platform” designed to be open and free. Following the October public release, Android will be open sourced as promised early in the conception days.
As expected, the phone will be locked to T-Mobile but given time with the Android developer community, don’t be surprised to see it unlocked very soon.
Although the Android platform is very extensible and open, as are the accompanying Google products (e.g. GMail, Docs, Calendar, Talk), the G1 will not be shipped with desktop software or Exchange support. Its an all-in-one mobile system. Although T-Mobile feels the device is for everyone, they did admit that it is more a consumer product than one for the enterprise.
