T-Mobile to have first Android phone later this year

The highly anticipated and publicized Android OS has still to show up in devices on retail shelves, due in part to production delays that set the original timetable back. Cell phones initially planned for 2008 have been pushed back to next year, and speculation has been abundant on what vendor will be first to offer an Android phone.

That question has now been answered with T-Mobile preparing to be the first carrier to an Android-powered phone manufactured by HTC.

The Taiwan-based manufacturer was until just a few years ago a large outsourcing plant for many different PDA brands, but now offers its own line of devices. This doesn't go to discard that similar phones based on the HTC device will show up around the same time from other providers. What's more, T-Mobile may have the phone ready before the end of the year, perhaps as early as November, but that's just unconfirmed rumors for now.

How the Android platform will fare once on shelves is a completely different story, though the iPhone has proven that people can respond favorably to innovative phone platforms.