Google predicts that some 18 to 20 phones, from eight to nine manufacturers, will come with Android OS installed on them by the end of the year. Although Android is open-source, manufacturers will be able to sign distribution deals with Google in order to pre-install their phones with more options such as Google Apps. The Android OS is widely predicted to also make the jump to mini-notebooks soon.
And 18 of 20 predictions in real life fails to come true. Serious, its already near the middle of 2009 and there’s only 6 phones that comes with Android preinstalled released so far, none of them a market success.
Actually, there’s only two – the HTC G1 and the HTC Magic. The latter has only been out for less than a month, and only in a few countries in Europe. The G1 has been out since October, but only in the US, and only in T-Mobile, which is small, until very recently. And, let’s face it, the G1 is a clunky piece of hardware.
However, Android is already number two in mobile web access, far behind the iPhone, but already in front of everyone else. And rising fast. No way can that be presented as a market failure.
And now, besides HTC, which is a small player, we will be getting much sexier devices than the G1 from Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson, to name a few. 18 devices this year! If that is not success, then I would not mind failure.
Actually, the G1 is also available in the UK on T-Mobile. In fact, I think it’s available in all territories that T-Mobile operate in.
The G1 is also about to be released in Canada on the Rogers network. I believe the call it the Revolution or something.
Rogers will be releasing both the HTC Dream (the G1) and the HTC Magic this week. They won’t be using the google-branded Android, they’re using HTC’s version. Main reason is to include ActiveSync for email, not sure what other differences there will be.
Fantastic news, now I’ll have choice of 18 almost identical low quality devices based off the same Qualcomm reference platform manufactured by some shady mainland china outfit with a tenuous grasp on hardware and software quality.
Maybe you should relax a little bit. At least you have choice. You can choose what you want to use. That’s no small a thing.
The warm feeling I get when someone is thoughtful enough to say thank you for having been helped far outweighs the empty one I get when there’s no feedback at all.
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