NEW YORK — Google and T-Mobile unveiled the first cellphone running the search giant’s mobile software Tuesday, showing off a long-awaited handset that resembles an iPhone but adds a hidden keyboard and quick access to Google programs.
The $179 phone, called the G1, is to go on sale Oct. 22 in U.S. cities where T-Mobile has its faster, third-generation wireless networks. By mid-October, there will be 21 markets.
The G1, with its free Android operating system, is one of the most visible signs of Google’s push into the wireless world, a relatively untapped realm for the company’s lucrative online advertising business.
Besides providing access to Google search, mapping, e-mail and YouTube video services, the G1 also will connect to Android Market, where customers can download a variety of applications and games from third-party developers.
The phone promises to be a signature handset for T-Mobile, as Apple’s iPhone has become for AT&T. T-Mobile, the U.S. arm of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG, is planning its largest marketing campaign to promote the phone.
The G1 is not for mainstream audiences, but it appeals to a certain type of customer valuable to T-Mobile, said Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin.
That customer is “very similar to an iPhone adopter but who is even more of someone for whom the Internet on the go is a vital piece of their lives,” he said.
Golvin said the G1 is a well-designed device, but it is “not going to cause a stampede of users from Verizon and Sprint and AT&T over to T-Mobile.” Other carriers, including AT&T, have plans for handsets that run Android.
Google sees selling ads on mobile devices as potentially even more valuable than its current focus on office and home computers using the Internet.
“I’m excited about the possibilities,” said Google’s Larry Page, who made an unexpected appearance Tuesday at the G1 launch event with co-founder Sergey Brin.
“There’s about 3 billion mobile phones with about a billion new ones every year,” Page said.
Describing the G1 as a powerful computer, he said that “when you think about that in terms of access to the Internet, being able to really use the Web, to use the applications we all make and really work hard on, I think that’s a tremendous, tremendous opportunity.”
Brin said the first application he created for the G1 involved its built-in accelerometer. Tossing his phone in the air at the Manhattan event, he said the program monitors how long it takes the G1 to be caught or hit the floor.
“We did not include that one,” he said. “It’s just very exciting for me as a computer geek to be able to have a phone that I can play with and modify and innovate upon just like I have with computers.”
About the G1
Features: 3-megapixel camera, trackball for one-handed use and a high-resolution touch screen that slides to reveal a full keyboard, but unlike the iPhone and BlackBerry, it has a limited ability to connect to corporate e-mail servers.
Software: The Android program includes broad instant-messaging support and a Web browser that allows users to zoom by tapping the screen. It adds to Google’s mapping services by merging a built-in compass with the Street View application.
Music: Takes aim at the iPhone and Apple’s iTunes service, allowing users to search and sample songs and then use Wi-Fi to download music from Amazon’s music store.
Costs: $179, $20 less than the cheapest iPhone, with a two-year contract with T-Mobile; an “unlimited” G1 data plan costs $25, besides voice service, and unlimited messaging is another $10.
Cox News Service
