AT&T to start selling its first Android phone March 7
AT&T Inc., the second-largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, will start selling its first phone that runs on Google Inc.'s Android software on March 7 to compete with bigger rival Verizon Wireless.
The Backflip, made by Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc., will cost $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, if the customer signs up for a two-year plan, the companies said today in a statement. The phone allows users to sync their social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, with phone numbers and will operate on AT&T's faster, so-called third-generation network.
AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier for Apple Inc.'s iPhone, is expanding its smartphone lineup as demand increases for devices that surf the Web, take pictures and play music. Verizon Wireless last year started selling the Motorola Droid, which also operates on Android software. Google said this week phone makers are shipping more than 60,000 Android handsets a day.
The software, first offered on a phone in 2008, also runs devices including Google's own Nexus One handset.
AT&T, based in Dallas, rose 8 cents to $25.48 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 9:35 a.m. Motorola fell 1 cent to $7.10.