T-Mobile to launch first Google-powered mobile

BERLIN: T-Mobile said on Monday it plans to launch a mobile phone powered by Google's Android software, making it the first operator to do so and posing a direct threat to Apple's popular iPhone.

A spokesman for Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's German parent, declined to comment on the launch date for the device which is made by mobile phone maker HTC.

According to a report in the New York Times, the phone will hit the stores in the United States before Christmas, perhaps as early as October.

The new device will have a touch screen like the iPhone and other smartphones that use software from firms like Palm, Microsoft and Nokia to allow users to access the Internet.

But the screen also slides out to expose a full five-row keyboard, the New York Times report said. T-Mobile is the number four operator in the United States as well as number one in Germany, Europe's biggest market. It is also present in Britain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Poland.