Sprint Prepares October Launch Of Google Phone

By The Wall Street Journal

Sprint Nextel Corp. said Thursday it will sell its first phone running Google Inc.'s Android software in October, giving the Internet company a larger foothold in the mobile world.

Consumers have been slow to embrace the mobile platform, which has been available only through T-Mobile USA. Sprint offers Google a larger subscriber base.

The decision is likely to help Android become a more "mainstream operating system," said Roger Entner, a telecommunications analyst at Nielson & Co.

Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kan., needs to fend off subscriber poaching by other wireless carriers. In the past few months, it has released a string of high-profile devices, including one from Palm Inc., hoping to find a match for Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

Now Sprint plans to sell the Hero from Taiwan-based HTC Corp. The Android-based smart phone uses a customized user interface from HTC, called Sense. Sprint will be the first carrier to offer the phone in the U.S.

The device will sell for $179.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and two-year service contract. It will be available in stores on Oct. 11.

The Hero can access Android Marketplace's 8,000 programs, said David Owens, Sprint's director of national marketing. Still, Apple's App Store boasts more than 65,000 programs.

A wave of Android devices are expected to hit the market in the next few months. Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. are expected to unveil Android phones in September. But because so many are expected to hit the market, analysts say few are expected to match the iPhone's success.

Google is pushing the open-source Google SEO mobile operating system to manufacturers in a bid to expand its presence in the mobile sector and generate advertising revenue. But the first Google phone, the G1, didn't turn many heads, and the follow-up, the MyTouch 3G, was just one of many high-end smart phones launched in the past few months.