New media reports suggest that Samsung handsets based on Google’s Android platform will reach the United States beginning in the second quarter of 2009, with Sprint being cited as the most likely wireless reseller. To accelerate the development process, Samsung recently added 30 experts in Linux and Java to increase its Android team to 80 developers, according to the Korean publication ETNews, citing an unnamed Samsung official.
Though IDC forecasts that cell-phone demand will slow down dramatically next year overall, converged mobile devices are expected to remain a much-sought-after option for many consumers, noted Ramon Llamas, an IDC senior analyst.
“Take a look at how gaming, mapping and location, entertainment, news, and social networking applications for converged mobile devices have taken off, allowing users to do much more than just make phone calls,” Llamas said. In response, handset vendors have been building their product and applications portfolios “to catch this wave of opportunity.”
Riding the Wave
The worldwide release of Apple’s iPhone 3G raised the profile of converged mobile devices as a whole, Llamas observed. “Add on top of that the attention generated by the Google-powered G1, and the converged mobile device suddenly finds itself as the device sought by both seasoned and first-time users.”
Despite the ongoing economic crisis, HTC CEO Peter Chou predicted last month that T-Mobile would sell one million G1 handsets in the United States and Europe by the end of 2008 — up from an initial analyst forecast of 400,000 units. HTC is also expected to release a follow-up Android product called the G2 in the first half of next year.
Sprint clearly needs to launch a new handset capable of countering T-Mobile’s G1 and Apple’s red-hot iPhone, for which AT&T has an exclusive U.S. distribution deal. The overriding goal is to induce current customers to remain with…