As T-Mobile gears up to release the first Android-based smartphone, reports say it already has sold about 1.5 million T-Mobile G1s in preorders. According to the financial site fool.com, T-Mobile tripled its manufacturing directive to handset maker HTC for preorders after the first run sold out, and all of the 1.5 million units available for preorder have sold out.
The report also indicated that another two million units are being readied for sale through retail outlets.
Initial Estimate Was 400,000 Units
As the first on the block to use Google’s open-source Android mobile platform, the G1 needs strong sales to avoid being quickly brushed aside in the marketplace. Last week, T-Mobile announced it had sold out its initial presales inventory, although it didn’t give sales figures. Some analysts, such as Strategy Analytics, had predicted T-Mobile could sell up to 400,000 units this year, but the new report indicates that preorder sales alone are more than three times as much.
First unveiled in early September, the G1 features a touchscreen, a QWERTY sliding keyboard, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G networking. The excitement surrounding the first Android device is reminiscent in some ways of Apple’s iPhone launch, but the G1 will be able use third-party applications from the beginning, while the iPhone was a closed device until this summer.
In addition, Google has seeded the market with $10 million in prize money to encourage Android application development, and it will not take any cut from the sale of third-party apps. Apple takes a 30 percent fee on most application sales.
Google’s business model, at least in part, is to increase Web use on mobile devices, and thus increase ad sales and other Web-based revenue. On Friday, AdWeek reported that the search giant has shown a new advertising option to agencies, which will allow iPhone-targeted, search-term-sensitive ads to be shown…