Archive notice: This article was originally published on January 19, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
T-Mobile presented the world’s first phone running Google’s Android operating system in Hamburg. The G1 is controlled by touchscreen, trackball and keyboard, and can be expanded with specially developed applications that will be offered free of charge until further notice. It therefore competes directly with Apple’s iPhone, which is operated exclusively by touchscreen.
The Google phone goes on sale February 2. T-Mobile will distribute it exclusively, offering it from €1, with the least expensive plan costing €44.95 per month. Without a service contract, the phone, manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC, is expected to cost around €450. Phones offered in Germany will ship without a SIM lock and will be available in black or white.
T-Mobile has high expectations for the G1. In the United States, where it has been available since late October last year, it has become the most successful phone the company has ever offered, according to Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International, although he did not provide sales figures. Integration of Google applications such as Search and Mail, along with a built-in GPS receiver and the location-based services it enables, is intended to advance mobile internet use significantly. According to T-Mobile, mobile data volume increased thirteenfold between the third quarter of 2006 and the third quarter of 2008. G1 users generate even more data traffic than iPhone owners, Akhavan said.
More than 700 applications for the Android operating system are currently available in Android Market, Apple’s App Store counterpart, said Christoph Schläffer of Deutsche Telekom’s Group Product & Information Office. These applications are currently free, although the distribution model will also be open to commercial programs in the future, Schläffer emphasized.
While the telecommunications group hopes the G1 will increase mobile internet use—and therefore its revenue from data plans—Google’s Northern Europe chief Philipp Schindler indicated the search company’s strategic objective: there are two billion mobile-phone contracts worldwide, but most applications are still developed for PCs. “Android is intended to change that,” Schindler stated.
