Verizon plans Android-based phones by year's end
Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, may sell phones based on Google Inc.'s Android operating system in time for the year-end holiday shopping season, a person familiar with the plan said.
The phones, one made by Motorola Inc. and one by HTC Corp., don't yet have prices, the person said. The handsets will probably have touch screens and physical keyboards, said the person who declined to be identified because the plans aren't finalized.
Verizon joins Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile units and Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc. in offering Android smart phones as operators look to the Internet-capable devices to boost revenue. Google's service, first released on handsets in October, is competing against Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile operating system, Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry.
Brenda Raney, a Verizon spokeswoman, declined to comment. Carolyn Wu, Motorola's director of communications for Asia, confirmed in an e-mail the company plans to ship Android-based phones this year, while declining to comment on whether it will supply Verizon. Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC's Chief Financial Officer and spokesman Cheng Hui-ming also declined to comment on the company's relationship with operators.
Verizon Communications Inc., which co-owns Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based Verizon Wireless with Vodafone Group Plc, rose 41 cents to $30.93 in New York trading at 10:09 a.m. The stock had declined 10 percent this year before today.
MyTouch
HTC, maker of the first Android phone released through T- Mobile USA Inc., will offer MyTouch, its second Google model, through the same carrier next month and an Android handset in China this month. The company also plans to release three new Windows-based phones this quarter, it said in April 30.
Google expects at least 18 Android phones to be introduced by the end of the year, the Mountain View, California-based company said in an e-mailed statement. Acer Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and Asustek Computer Inc. have also said they plan to offer Android handsets.
AT&T Inc., the exclusive carrier of Apple's iPhone, attracted more than double the amount of smart-phone users than its nearest rival, accounting for 46.9 percent of all advanced, Internet-capable handsets at the end of March, according to researcher ComScore Inc. Verizon was second during the period with a 20 percent share.
Smart Phones
IPhone users spend about 60 percent more on subscriptions than other AT&T customers, the company has said. Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan's largest phone operator, said April 29 its iPhone customers spend around 20 percent more per month than subscribers with different handsets.
Last month, NTT DoCoMo, which pioneered mobile Internet usage with its iMode service, said it will offer a Google-based phone from this month. Smart phones will account for 17 percent of global mobile-phone shipments this year, according to El Segundo, California-based iSuppli Corp.
AT&T's iPhone, T-Mobile's G1 and Verizon's BlackBerry Storm, all Internet-capable handsets offered as flagship products, were the top revenue drivers on their carriers' respective Web sites, indicating the more-expensive, operator-specific devices helped boost sales, ComScore said March 18.