Apple as AT&T’s darling may be coming to an end, though its dominance is going to be hard to break. AT&T announced that it will be launching five Android-based handsets in the first half of 2010, competing directly with the network’s own iPhone pride and joy.
This means Google’s Android OS is going to be out there and available on every major carrier — ahead of the iPhone. That gives developers a bigger push in creating apps for the Android app store, and users more reason to purchase the phone. All-in-all, this has to scare Apple a bit, as they’re still contracted as an AT&T-only phone for a bit longer, giving Google a fairly big multi-carrier head start.
The actual phone details aren’t available yet, but AT&T revealed it will carry a device from Motorola with the MotoBlur interface, a device from HTC, and the first Android-based Dell smartphone.
AT&T’s biggest problem right now is not its phone selection though – it’s the carrier’s network that keeps dropping calls in congested areas like San Francisco and New York. Apple, on the other hand, needs to leap out of its indentured servitude once its AT&T-only contract ends and fight Google fist-for-a-fist. Google’s phones, like the highly-anticipated T-Mobile / Google Nexus One, have yet to entirely live up to their hype, but Google is getting close. And with multiple hardware manufacturers building Android devices, options for Android phones will always be broader than the “choose your hard-drive size” iPhone.
One hopes the competition amongst these giants leads to all-round benefits to the layman.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out once the iPhone is free from AT&T’s grasp. The iPhone has the advantage of already possessing high market penetration while the Nexus One is supposedly more advanced in features and functionality, and for now it is unlocked which gives it an advantage. However, the only GSM networks in the US belong to AT&T and T-Mobile, so it’s not like there will really be many carriers to choose from anyway.
It’s the apps, stupid. If you want to beat the iPhone, you have to beat the iPhone apps ecosystem. On that front the Android is a day late and a dollar short.
cant wait,at&t is the best where i live (alaska) great network up here anyway, ive been waiting for an android phone forever… no verison here, no t-mobile here.. so i and many others are very excited to here this!!
Great news, so that we can be free from slavery ecosystem! Application development is also easy with Android, because we don’t have to buy Mac, and we don’t have to use the heck of its language, it’s Java, trillions of developer are out there, meaning many applications will come out soon.
I am excited as well, i also live in alaska and let me tell you, as much as i love my iphone. It’s hard here because everyone has it! IMHO the iphone isnt really that great i drop calls all the time and the 3g is sub par. I openly welcome android to att!