Android phones as early as this fall?

A Google executive may have inadvertently tipped the wireless industry's hand on the launch time frame for Android phones.

Ever since introducing Android, a mobile-phone operating system, last November, Google has said that Android-loaded phones would be available in the second half of this year. However, on Monday, Richard Whitt, Google's Washington telecom and media counsel, put a finer grain on the launch expectations during a conference call about Google's plans for the "white spaces" spectrum, saying the phones could be out as soon as summer or fall of this year.

This Android prototype, show at Mobile World Congress in February, could be a shipping product by fall.

(Credit: Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images)

After the call, Google representatives reiterated that the launch expectations for Android phones were unchanged at "second half of 2008," emphasizing that the exact launch schedule is up to Google's partners. However, Google is likely privy to that schedule, since they'd probably want to show up for the party or something, and just about all of summer--and all of fall--takes place during the second half of the year.

The debut of an Android phone in the summer or early fall could give Google and its partners a chance to test the market during the back-to-school or holiday shopping bonanzas in the second half of the calendar year. IDG News Service reported last week that HTC was developing an Android phone called "Dream," that would be out "near the end of this year."

The report also said that Samsung was racing with HTC to get an Android phone out the door, meaning perhaps other handset makers have accelerated their plans.

CNET News.com's Anne Broache contributed to this report.

[trigatch4]

HTC Dream in FALL

It won't be summer... it will be fall: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://htcdream.com" target="_newWindow">http://htcdream.com</a> and <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://phandroid.com" target="_newWindow">http://phandroid.com</a>

Think about it... they need time to get more developers to create more applications that are tested and proven. The apps are what will make Android so desirable.

Plus... they'll want to time this perfectly... probably late October or November to perfectly align the enormous buzz with the holiday buying frenzy.

[The User]

Will it not be a drop in the ocean?

There are 10,000s commercial and free apps for eachs of the main platforms - Windows Mobile, Palm and BlackBerry. Will those puny 100s of Android apps a tiny caricature of the bigger and better OSes?

[kojacked]

Exciting!

Thanks for posting the links. Too bad there aren't more details. I look forward to the mobile market heating up and going to the next level. With HTC doing this I wouldn't doubt I'll be able to flash my HTC Wizard with their implementation of android. Might be worth the test drive...

[The User]

I don't get it

I got the Google part - it is cool to use a Google product. But not everything Google does is really useful. In fact, in many of its endeavors Google was lagging badly behind, killing the product off.

Now, the Android - where does it fit, why should I buy an Android device?

We have Symbian - not that I like it, but its everywhere and its time tested.
We have Apple - the coolest consumer OS on the market, complete with the coolest device.
We have Palm - a dying breed that started it all
We have BlackBerry - a professional grade OS
and we have Windows Mobile, that with a little effort can easily eclipse all of the above by being better consumer product (with SPB Shell 2 I like it far better than Apple's OS), better professional OS (I think it's been better than BlackBerry for a long time, it just takes time for people to adjust).
And where will Android fit it? It will definitely not be a threat to WM, not for many years, at least. If users will switch from BB to something, most likely it will be WM with outlook and exchange, so for BB Android isn't really a competition. Apple doesn't have to worry about - it will not have coolness of the Apple brand. Symbian? Symbian is there because it is there, not because it is better than BB, WM or Apple in any function.

So what is the benefit of buying an Android device? To surf Google or Google maps? That I can do from Safari or forthcoming mobile Firefox (IE doesn't really do a good job on mobile). So what is all that hype about Android devises?

[rudlavi]

Cheap?

They said that it's going to be affordable. A smartphone for everyone. The openness should also be a factor, but more for the developers and handset makers.

[ArtInvent]

For me Android = Linux phone

Android is a Linux based phone stack and will be predominantly open source. It's a bet by Google that really opening up the system will start a mass thriving of a portable internet ecosystem. It's pretty much the opposite tack of what Apple is doing with the iPhone. Apple has created a very profitable closed ecosystem of its own based a single handset design and tightly controlled software. Sure Apple is going to allow 3rd party apps onto their system, but they will probably put tight limits on the kinds of apps and the things they can do. Google is not going to make any money on the iPhone for years because as great as that device is, it's not going to possibly achieve adoption levels which create a truly massive market for Google's services. They want to see if they can blast that market for internet-in-your-pocket wide open and start massive adoption levels and get all the manufacturers and carriers in on it - no limits to what others can adapt the general idea to. This is largely in recognition of the fact that this is really a full computer in your pocket, why not let it out of the cage. Apple folks probably couldn't care less, as Apple is pretty good at making them happy, but for the mainstream it's a pretty interesting development. And to Linux fans like me, of course, it should be fascinating.

[t8]

It sets you free

It is free. No cost to handset makers.
It is open. Developers can hook into it and change anything.
It makes a phone an Internet device.

So no more $1 ring tones.

[everwanted2]

lol again

There are lots of things you don't get I see. Let me start off by explaining it to you in chronic order. "You should buy an android device" - Android is a mobile Operating system, it is open source, meaning that anyone who has access to the download of the source code is free to do what they like except sell a derivative. Android is software, it can be PORTED to any mobile device, meaning that if a company really wanted to, they could port android to a moto razer or a slvr, however, since this OS is powerful in it's own, it would need a more powerful device to run off of. You cannot truly trust any Closed Source project like symbian with ought viewing the code. Because that would mean that you don't know what is in there (software), Since android is open source, everyone can truly see why it is fool-proof. Making it more than time tested. Have you tried one of the android emulators? The interface is extremely skinnable and customizable, it can look much better than an iphone UI (user interface). It is a threat to WM because all of that software is possible on android because it is possible on linux and android has the same libraries and api's that a typical GNU/Linux OS has. Open Office, oh and did I mention that the android Browser is based on Webkit, meaning that Zoho, and the whole Google online office suite will work perfectly for the phone. You spelled devices wrong on your last sentence. I recommend you get the SDK(<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://code.google.com/android/download.html" target="_newWindow">http://code.google.com/android/download.html</a>)

and once downloaded, go to tools and you'll see an application called "emulator" Run it and test it out. :D

[Smartboy_x]

Waiting eagerly, but a bit sceptic.

Hi, this is smartboy_x. I am waiting so eagerly for this platform to be introduced! And a bit sceptic too for initial one or two years. But above all, we should have faith on google.