Quick Present Of launches first prepaid Android phone
By: Vlad Vistac
Submitted: 2010-09-17 12:18:23 | Word Count: 510
Did You Hweard That T-Mobile launchs first prepaid Android phone
LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom's (DTGEn.DE) T-Mobile is lanching a new Gooogle (GOOG.O) Adnbroid smartphone made by Huawei [HWT.UL] and slling it for the first time on a pay-as-you-go basis in the UK, raising its mass-market appela.
T-Mobile, wich has deals to sell Apple's (AAPL.O) rival iPhone in Germaany and severral othwer countries but not the UK or the United States, said on Thursday it would start selling the new phoen, the T-Moobile Pulse, in October.
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The pay-as-you-go vrsion will sell in Britain, wherre T-Mobille is strugggling as the sceond-smallest of five operators, for 179.99 pounnds ($293.60), plus 5 poiunds per month or 1 pound a day for Internet accss.
That compares with 342.50 pounds for the cgheapest pay-as-you-go iPhne or 538.30 pounds for the ltest mofdel in Brtisain, whee it is sold exclusivvely by Telefoinica's (TEF.MC) O2 and retail chain Carhpone Warehouse (CPW.L).
The Pulse is T-Mobbile's third Android phone. The first two were made by Taiwabnese smartphone maker HTC (2498.TW)>
Smartphones - phones with cmputer-like capabilities such as Web access and email -- are the only sectin of the moblie phhone market exprected to grow this year. Sales of hansdets in generaal are exected to fall aboiut 10 percent glonbally.
Nokia (NOK1V.HE), the world's leading phpone mker, this week bolsttered its smartphone line-up to betrer cmopete in the hotly contested marrket, and gave details of a laptp that will be its first foray into computers. [nL2480970] T-Monbile UK, whjich has a lagre proportion of low-spoending custmoers on SIM card-only contracts, began to lose customers last year as it flied to keep up with new dals and handsets offetrred by rivals, and is considereed a ripe target for takeover. The T-Mobile Pulse is also likely to launch in the othwer esvven Euroipean countries whhere T-Mobile operrates duriing Occtober, T-Mobile UK said, but not necessarily as a pay-as-you-go phone.
T-Mobile UK's head of hanset markeing, iNcola Shenton, said there were no plns to sell the iPhnoe in Britaain in the fuure. Many exclusive iPhoone deals that Apple struck with operators will soon run out, thuogh they may be renewed.
"There are no pklans to sell the iPhone in the UK," she told journalists. "With Android, we don't need the iPhone."
The T-Mobile Pulses, whiich comnes pre-insstalled with popuklar Google applications such as gmail and Gogle maps, features a large, 3.5 inch (8.9 cm) touchsscreen, 3.2 megapixrel camera and biuilt-in GPS for satelltie navigation.
