False alarm: Android-powered phones are coming in 2008

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 2nd 2008 at 7:38PM

Phew. Not the closest call we've seen, but close enough to get us sweating ever-so-slightly. We had a strange feeling some wires were crossed when a report surfaced stating that the "Gphone" wouldn't be shipping until 2009, but for whatever it's worth, Google has now addressed the issue and affirmed that it is "still on track to announce Android-powered phones this year." The spokesperson continued by proclaiming that "some of [its] partners were publicly stating that they plan to ship Android phones in the fourth quarter," which leads us to say: crisis averted, carry on.

[Via CNET]

Filed under: Handsets, Android

Tags: android, delay, delayed, gary krakow, GaryKrakow, google, google phone, GooglePhone, gphone, rumor

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Highly Ranked

Mike W @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:45PM

I believe the beauty of this false alarm is moreso that there in many ways is likely a Gphone back on the table and that they plan to release it next year while others release sooner. Whether that's in the form of the HTC Dream or another, who knows?

If Google's recent history were to comment, I believe it would say that Google is planning to do a phone to ensure the market keeps growing. It sees that in many ways the iPhone may force other makers in one direction (though I'll wait till June 9th before passing judgement on this), and they will keep everyone from going in just one direction. They're doing that with the 700mhz market, they're doing it with their platform being able to go into all sorts of bodies, etc.

I think this could be a great great thing for consumers. Imagine where Apple pushes into new areas keeping the multitouch (and hopefully that being adapted more in other phones soon), the fact that accelerometers are becoming more standard in phones now, and maybe they'll soon be doing the same for haptic feedback on touchscreens.... but, on the other side HTC/Google/etc are putting phones with different unique systems out there. It keeps the market alive, allows people to have a wide variety of choices, and encourages even more people to join the Smartphone area... a place where Google can do what it does best with advertising to get it into more people's hands.

The Gphone being back on the table and coming out in 2009 as the articles posted earlier on here showed could be great. It won't be here to try to dominate the market, but ensure that the market doesn't become stale. Apple helped transfer the power of phones from the carriers to a company, Blackberry is taking it's skills in the enterprise market into a similar market as Apple with it's upcoming touchscreen, Google is making a very modular system that can give individuals what they want, and HTC is still pumping out great phones while working with both Android and Windows Mobile (again, modularity and allowing consumers to choose). This is great news for us, it ensures that in a year not all phones will be pure touchscreen and stop evolving... it means that various ideas, interfaces, hardware designs will be continuing to come out and we won't have a "razr" effect where one phone dominates and it takes years for the market to start producing phones that aren't crap.

I find this very exciting, and am quickly finding this Apple/Microsoft/Google/HTC/RIM/Nokia/etc competition to be such a great thing for us. Keep it coming guys, I promise that I'll put my money in the pockets of the people that do their best to give us a phone without the gimicks (HTC, I'm eyeing you, I bet you won't forget to include video card drivers again, eh?)

Neutral

Mehdi @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:12AM

quote..........The spokesperson continued by proclaiming that "some of [its] partners were publicly stating that they plan to ship Android phones in the fourth quarter,"

"The fourth quarter" means early months of 2009 :-D

Neutral

Hai @ Jun 11th 2008 6:00AM

I think what's as important as whether the Android will ship is whether it would make a difference or dent with the announced iPhone. Anyways, I'd like to share on some thoughts as to what the Android could do to compete with the iPhone: http://www.openxfer.com/wordpress/2008/06/10/what-the-android-needs-to-do-to-compete-with-the-iphone/?33