The competition will rejoice. Sprint, in particular, comes off as a big winner and CEO Dan Hesse will be vindicated for his crusade against the merger all year. Verizon, which took a "don't look at us, we are just watching the circus" approach, probably does not benefit from its failure. AT&T had set aside $4 billion in breakup fees that it now needs to pay Deutsche Telecom, the owners of T-Mobile. So, the biggest loser here is AT&T. The company would also like consumers to believe they are the losers as well.

The actions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block this transaction do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry. It is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage. In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.

"To meet the needs of our customers, we will continue to invest," [CEO Randall] Stephenson said. "However, adding capacity to meet these needs will require policymakers to do two things. First, in the near term, they should allow the free markets to work so that additional spectrum is available to meet the immediate needs of the U.S. wireless industry, including expeditiously approving our acquisition of unused Qualcomm spectrum currently pending before the FCC. Second, policymakers should enact legislation to meet our nation's longer-term spectrum needs.

"The mobile Internet is a dynamic industry that can be a critical driver in restoring American economic growth and job creation, but only if companies are allowed to react quickly to customer needs and market forces," Stephenson said.

The Federal Communications Commission took its first crack at the deal in May, about a month and a half after the merger was announced. That announcement fell on the day before CTIA's main wireless conference of the year in Orlando. There was an awkward panel at CTIA where the CEO's of Sprint (Hesse), AT&T (Ralph de La Vega) and Verizon (Dan Mead) as the three of the most influential men in wireless were peppered with questions from Mad Money's Jim Cramer.

Later in the year, the Department of Justice got in on the act against the merger and the writing was on the wall that the merger would likely not go through. The longer the process dragged on, the more money AT&T stood to lose both on infrastructure development and legal fees. We noted in September that it would be easy for a three carrier environment dominated by Verizon and AT&T to collude on price-fixing without actually have to communicate with each other.

AT&T was betting the house on the notion that it could increase the pace of innovation, provide broadband service to 99.9% of Americans, create jobs and make the U.S. more competitive in the global wireless market. Sprint fought back, saying that none of this would be true and that Sprint would get squeezed out of the market by the dominant duo on top of the food chain.

Now it is finally over and the U.S. will remain a market with four large cellular carriers. AT&T and T-Mobile customers: how do you feel about this, since you were probably the most likely to benefit from the merger? Sprint fans, is this a win? Or is all of this billion-dollar merger just corporate shenanigans that you could care less about. Let us know in the comments.

The controversial plan, which was announced in March, would result in AT&T paying $39 billion to acquire T-Mobile from its parent company Deutsche Telekom. AT&T touted the merger as a way to roll out Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G networks to more customers and foster innovation. Some of its competitors and a few lawmakers have been more skeptical of the deal, while a group of customers have sued AT&T in an attempt to block the merger.

If it were to be approved, the merger would effectively result in a duopoly in the wireless industry, with AT&T and Verizon dominating the space and, some fear, leaving little room for competition and the interests of consumers.

"AT&T's elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low- priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market," the U.S. filing said.

On AT&T's side, CEO Randall Stevenson told lawmakers that the merger will give the company the "block of clear, unadulterated spectrum" it needs to roll out its Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G service. The opponents at the hearing say AT&T has more than enough spectrum already and that innovation and competition of the entire wireless industry would be stifled by an AT&T/Verizon duopoly.

"To make the move in technology you have to have a clear block of spectrum, nothing in it, to be able to deploy that technology," Stevenson said. "We have to have clear blocks of spectrum, unused spectrum, it has to be clear unadulterated spectrum to do LTE. Because of the data growth that we are experiencing we need 20 megahertz of what we call contiguous spectrum."

Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge, a D.C.-based advocacy group, disagrees with Stevenson's cry of spectrum paucity. She claims that AT&T has spectrum spread out over three different communications standards (2G EDGE, 3G HSPA, 4G LTE - all on the GSM standard) and that at least a third of their spectrum is undeveloped and unused.

"One-third of its spectrum in the top 21 markets has not even been built out yet," Sohn said. "I want to get to that '20 megahertz contiguous that Mr. Stevenson said was necessary. That really ignores channel bonding technologies that can bridge non-contiguous spectrum and other technologies that improve spectrum efficiency like femtocells, picocells, distributed antennas. It also ignores AT&T's ability to reconfigure its network to provide 20 megahertz contiguous for LTE. So, I think that this spectrum crunch, crisis, exhaust is a bit overstated."

The Federal Communications Commission disagrees with Sohn. The primary goal of the FCC in the last year and its plans for years to come is to open up spectrum to take pressure off of cellular networks across the country, especially in populous areas. If you live in downtown New York City or San Francisco, it is difficult to make a phone call or do use data to do something as simple as a Google search. The spectrum crunch is a real problem. That does not mean the FCC is not looking for ways to optimize spectrum. It is a two-pronged goal that will take years, decades to fulfill -- free up the resources, maximize the resources.

Bring Wireless Broadband To Rural America

It is a different case in rural America. It is not a matter of a spectrum crunch but rather a lack of development and infrastructure of spectrum footprints owned by the major carriers. AT&T and T-Mobile believe that together the companies can take their spectrum and build them out in rural communities where one company or the other could not go alone.

"We have been out pursuing and buying spectrum the best we can. We don't have enough spectrum to deploy this network nationwide," Stevenson said. "It is a long term solution. Most of the rural communities that we are speaking to, we would not have the spectrum depth to do the conversion we would need. This is one of the big determinacy's if we can get to a lot of the rural communities that we would need."

In terms of innovation, Hesse and others are concerned that going back to a supposed-duopoly will be a bane to new technologies. In terms of business and legal speak, that is what Hesse is supposed to say.

"The concern is that the U.S. will fall behind the world like we once did," Hesse said. "We would lose that edge that we have regained, if you will, over the rest of the world."

Yet, Stevenson points out that the carriers are not the only groups responsible for innovation in the mobile realm (and our ReadWriteWeb readers who run the gamut of innovation might agree). Stevenson said; "I don't think that Steve Jobs would hold off putting out the iPhone 5 or 6 or whatever number comes next by one day because of the merger of T-Mobile and AT&T."

The debate will continue until the FCC, FTC and Judiciary make a final ruling, something not expected till later this year or early 2012.

Another report out now claims that the seemingly mythical white iPhone is due to launch this week.

According to the popular mobile blog BGR, Apple is testing a iPhone prototype with T-Mobile USA 3G bands. The internal model number for this phone is N94, a higher model number than the Verizon iPhone, the N92, and the GSM (AT&T) iPhone, the N90.

A follow-up report from 9to5Mac.com confirmed that the iPhone prototype also includes the A5 processor, the same processor powering next-gen iPhone hardware already in the hands of select game developers. This test hardware is being called the "iPhone 4S," but it's unclear if that's just what the leaker of this news chose to call the device, or if that's what Apple itself is calling it.

9to5Mac emphasizes that these prototypes are not "the next iPhone," per se. They are test devices only. The phones run iOS4 on the upgraded hardware, allowing developers to build new apps that take advantage of the forthcoming technical advances in hardware, prior to the official launch of the new iPhone, presumably being called the "iPhone 5."

The addition of a T-Mobile iPhone is not surprising, given that T-Mobile is one of the top mobile carriers in the U.S. Although the planned merger of AT&T with T-Mobile, pending regulator approval, could eventually bring the iPhone to T-Mobile customers, Apple may not want to wait the many months, if not years, it would take to do so.

This move seems also seems more likely given Verizon's apparent confirmation of previous rumors that indicated the next iPhone will be a "global device," meaning one that works on both CDMA networks like Verizon as well as GSM networks like AT&T and T-Mobile.

White iPhone Cometh?

What's more surprising, perhaps, is the newer report which reveals an actual launch date for the white iPhone.

Months after the iPhone 4's June 2010 launch, Apple admitted that the white models were more difficult to manufacture than originally expected, and would be delayed. Since then, spotting the white iPhone online, by way of mistakes from Web admins updating online inventory or other such blunders, led to sighting after accidental sighting of the increasingly mythological device.

Whether the current report is accurate or just another rumor is still unknown. At any rate, this report contains a deadline for the device's launch: April 27th.

According to AppleInsider, citing "people familiar with the matter," Apple's U.S. stores began receiving promotional material related to the white iPhone, which is expected to arrive on both AT&T and Verizon "within the next week." In-store shipment notifications point to a launch date of Wednesday, April 27th, it's being reported.

Late April 2011 fits with Apple's promised timeline for the launch, said to be "spring" of this year.  We hope that this time, at long last, the report is true.

Image credits: BGR (top), AppleInsider (below)

It was a moment of high drama and the players didn't dissapoint.  When asked point blank about the consequences for innovation of the deal AT&T's Ralph de la Vega focused on the positive and Verizon's Dan Mead yawned at the supposed threat.  Sprint CEO, underdog and the Chairman of CTIA itself Dan Hesse, however, was quite explicit in sounding the alarm.

Panel moderator Jim Cramer started out asking simply, what are the consequences to innovation of the AT&T deal for T-Mobile? The New York Times said there was little for consumers to cheer about concerning the deal.  Did the panelists agree?

AT&T's Ralph de la Vega answered first.  He disagreed, of course, and said that the deal would benefit consumers because it resolves spectrum issues in major cities. "When you combine networks," he said, "your coverage becomes denser and you have more capacity." He also said that as a result of the deal, AT&T would focus on rolling out next generation networks to rural America.  

Throughout the panel, de la Vega's responses had a tone of humility.  That's probably a good affect to take on, given the stakes of regulatory consideration of the T-Mobile deal.

What does Verizon think of the deal?

CEO Dan Mead appeared unmoved.  "We've built a foundation of great spectrum through many may acquisitions similar to what's being discussed here," he said.  "We feel very good about our spectrum position."  When asked if Verizon had considered acquiring T-Mobile itself, Mead said "we didn't think there was a need."

Mead didn't offer much comment on innovation in particular, he appeared much more concerned about the company's strong marketshare and ability to service its customer's basic needs.

"The underlying issue is a fundamentally sound spectrum policy to foster innovation," he offered. "We have a tremendous amount of competition [already]."

The Sprint reply was the most entertaining.

"Are you concerned that consolidation could stifle innovation?" asked moderator Cramer.

"My opinion doesn't matter," said Sprint CEO and CTIA chairman Dan Hesse, "it's the FCC and the DOJ's that matter. But yes. If that transaction is allowed to proceed, 79% of marketshare would be in the top 2 companies. I am concerned it would stifle innovation."

With that the crowd at the event burst into cheers.  It was clear that people at this industry event are concerned about the growing centralization of power as well.

Hesse gave AT&T credit for opening up the huge market for mobile apps like no one else had been able to do before, but he also said he really hopes that the Microsoft and Nokia partnership goes well.  "If that partnership goes well, it gives consumers more choice," he said. "I think it's good for our industry to have a strong 4th choice."

That's an appealing and intuitive position to take.  It's also a logical position for someone who is on the outside of that 79% marketshare held by the 2 big players.

In a fast-mobilizing world, rich with innovation possibilities throughout a complex value chain, what do you think is best for innovation?  Competition among a larger number of mobile carriers or the superior service and platform that the market leaders say comes from scale and density of coverage?

Disclosure: The topic of this post was chosen independently of Sprint's sponsorship of our coverage at CTIA. Because of the scope of the event, our coverage of CTIA will at times undoubtably mention other vendors and companies including Sprint and their competitors.

The acquisition will allow AT&T to improve network quality for both companies' customers, says AT&T, while also enabling it to expand its 4G/LTE deployment to 95% of the U.S. population.

Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman and CEO, notes the importance of this move, explaining that "mobile broadband networks drive economic opportunity everywhere, and they enable the expanding high-tech ecosystem that includes device makers, cloud and content providers, app developers, customers, and more. During the past few years, America’s high-tech industry has delivered innovation at unprecedented speed, and this combination will accelerate its continued growth."

AT&T also pointed out via its press release that the LTE rollout would help achieve the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and President Obama’s goals to connect “every part of America to the digital age.”

Business Insider calculated the customer numbers involved in this deal, noting that at the end of 2010, AT&T had 95.5 million wireless subscribers and T-Mobile had 33.7 million subscribers. Their new combined total would be 129.2 million subscribers. In comparison, Verizon Wireless had 94.1 million wireless customers.

But the news isn't all rosy, cautions Forrester research analyst Charles Golvin.

“AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile, if approved, brings good news and bad news. The good news: high-speed mobile broadband service will improve in quality and coverage, including — in the long run — those in rural communities outside the reach of terrestrial broadband today. The bad news: the cost of that service won't come down nearly as fast as customers would like, since AT&T and Verizon Wireless combined would own nearly three out of every four wireless subscriptions in the US. While clearly troublesome for Sprint and other mobile smaller mobile competitors, It's also bad news for cable operators, whose incipient mobility products will suffer in comparison to what AT&T and Verizon can offer.”

T-Mobile customers, of course, just want to know if this new deal means they can finally get the iPhone, but there's no word on that just yet.

According to the statement Isis released today, its focus will be on building a mobile payments network that uses "smartphone and near-field communication (NFC) technology to modernize the payments process." The service will be released over the next 18 months in key geographic markets.

With Isis, the newly launched website explains, customers can leave their credit cards, loyalty cards and coupons behind, and instead set their preferences on their mobile devices to receive the savings and offers they want.

Involved in the project are Discover Financial Services and Barclays US, part of U.K. bank Barclays PLC, which is expected to be the first issuer on the network.

Combined, the carriers will offer Isis to over 200 million customers. Additionally, it will leverage Discover's merchant network, which now has over 7 million locations nationwide.

"We believe the venture will have the scope and scale necessary to introduce mobile commerce on a broad basis," Abbott said. "In the beginning, we intend to fully utilize Discover's national payment infrastructure as well as Barclaycard's expertise in contactless and mobile payments. Moving forward, Isis will be available to all interested merchants, banks and mobile carriers."

NFC Making Waves

Near-field communications, or NFC technology, has yet to make major inroads here in the U.S., but an initiative like this, combined with concurrent advancements in mobile smartphone technology will soon change that. Yesterday, for example, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that the next version of Android, the company's mobile operating system (code-name Gingerbread) will include support for NFC.

He also showed off an unannounced Samsung phone, reportedly the so-called "Nexus S," the future Google flagship phone that will feature the latest stock build of the Android mobile OS. The phone will include NFC features, Schmidt revealed to the audience at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, where he was speaking at the time.

Although less publicly, Apple, too, appears to be working on adding NFC technology to its iPhone devices. In August, the company hired NFC expert Benjamin Vigier as its new product manager for mobile commerce. Apple has also filed a number of NFC-related patents, including those for a mobile payments service, "iPay," "iBuy" and "iCoupons," among others. However, little is known about how or when Apple plans to implement these services. Meanwhile, given that Android's Gingerbread mobile OS update is only days away from launch, it appears that Google will be first to ship with NFC support. (Other handset makers have already announced support for NFC, including Nokia, which plans to ship the technology in all smartphones in 2011, for example).

Outside of these high-level efforts from carriers, handset makers and OS vendors, startups like the Palo Alto, California-based Bling Nation have created ways to work around the lack of NFC technology in U.S. mobile devices with the introduction of NFC-enabled stickers for phones and the accompanying readers, the latter of which are provided free to businesses for use at the point-of-sale. As NFC takes off in the smartphone market, with Android and iPhone potentially leading the way, Bling Nation could serve as the alternative method for feature phone users and others without NFC to take part in NFC-enabled mobile payments - that is, assuming Bling Nation can achieve wide enough merchant adoption.

More information about Isis and its plans are now available online at the website www.paywithisis.com

Phone Scoop found that Sprint's 4G network is currently slightly slower than T-Mobile's HSPA+ (High-Speed Packet Access) network - an upgraded form of 3G. After testing each service in Philadelphia (where both networks are currently available), the study determined that T-Mobile's network has a small edge in download speeds, and a large advantage in upload speeds.

While Sprint boasts speeds "up to ten-times faster" than 3G, T-Mobile's upgraded 3G network was often faster in many of the more than 300 tests run by Phone Scoop. Download speeds were roughly the same, averaging at just under 3 Mbps, but with an upload average of 1.28 mbps, T-Mobile's HSPA+ doubled that of Sprint's 4G, which managed just 588 kbps. Sprint's 4G, based on these tests, was less than five-times faster than its own 3G network, not ten.

The advantage T-Mobile has over Sprint is that its HSPA+ network was an upgrade to an existing in-place system, while Sprint's 4G network requires new equipment, creating a slower roll out. This was exemplified in the study by Sprint's dreadfully slower speeds in suburban areas. While T-Mobile managed a speedy 5.4 mbps down and 1.8 mbps up, Sprint's "4G" could only muster 748 kbps down and 60 kbps up - closer to their 3G speeds.

Phone Scoop, while admitting that the testing is just one city's results, is still confident the numbers reflect nationwide trends between the two networks. So before you buy into Sprint's "4G speeds," it would be wise to investigate the coverage in your area and determine if it is truly worth it at this time.

Another factor to consider is the number of devices available on each network. Currently, the Evo is the only Sprint device on the 4G network, while T-Mobile offers nine devices that can use HSPA+. Also, users more dependant on upload speeds (which affects media sharing, gaming or video chatting) may want to seriously consider T-Mobile over Sprint due to the networks blazing upload speeds. Either way, picking a phone is nearly as important picking a car, so smart shoppers should investigate the networks carefully before choosing.

• Limited choice of mobile phones. I chose the BlackBerry, because I'm used to it. No, T-Mobile doesn't offer the iPhone!
• Wi-Fi phone and data on your mobile. This is the interesting bit. Basically, wherever you have Wi-Fi, you will have free minutes.
• GPRS, which is what you would use if you don't have access to Wi-Fi.
• Wi-Fi land line. This looks like an ordinary phone but connects to your high-speed line as a VoIP phone. Other companies offer this, but getting the whole bundle from your cell phone provider is pretty cool.

My Experience

First, no disclosure needed. I bought this at a regular T-Mobile store and paid the regular listed price. This was not a journalism assignment.

Here are the key points:

• I've reduced my cell phone minutes dramatically... as in, cut them in half.
• Most of my calls are from the office, home and other locations that I visit regularly. The phone picks those up regularly. For example, when I get home, the phone says "Home" (it says "T-Mobile" when I am in cell phone mode). That's it. Nothing else to do. Just make (free) calls.
• Call quality is mostly fine. If you see three Wi-Fi bars or fewer, it's a bit flaky. You'll hear voices in slow motion, like a tape winding doooown.
• Push email comes through fine. This matters for when you are out of the country. You will still get email without having to sign up for an expensive international plan. You are not 100% always on, as you are with GPRS, but for many people who travel, it's good enough. If not, just pay for the international plan.
• It's amazing how many places I found in my test across Switzerland, France, and America that have open Wi-Fi access. I just hit "Scan for networks" on my BlackBerry, and there they are. Note: I'm writing this in Herald Square, New York City, with three open Wi-Fi bars on my BlackBerry. Hm, who shall I call?

Industry Implications

• The implications are practical mainstream stuff and carry a very simple message for consumers: save money.
• It shows that big companies can innovate and are not always afraid to disrupt their own cash cows in their quest for more market share. Kudos to T-Mobile.
• This will make Apple even keener to dump AT&T as soon as possible.
• This puts pressure on Skype to deliver a practical, simple device for mobile phones.

The makers of the "Google phone" - and the developers who hope to build apps for it - have had the opportunity to watch Apple over the past year, learning from their mistakes - and their successes. One of those lessons learned? People want apps. Let's take a look at three of the first Android apps out of the gates.

One of the leading streaming music services and a frequent subject of ours, imeem, plans to "make Android sing" with its streaming social music app that delivers the power of imeem's user recommendations to the mobile platform. According to imeem, the app will have seamless integration between the mobile app and the imeem site.

Not to be outdone on the social front, MySpace has announced the MySpace Mobile App for Android which promises to bring a number of the site's features to the mobile platform, including providing status updates, uploading photos, and approving friends.

App store drama rears its head

Getting apps to users right of the gates was clearly motivated by the hindsight of Apple's reticence to do so. The Android team definitely made the right decision in that regard.

One of the mistakes that the G1 appears doomed to repeat, however, is the management of those applications in the Android Market, the distribution hub for Android applications.

Android Community reveals that the more than 50 apps which could appear in the Market have been whittled down to 13 lucky applications. According to Android Community, "many of the top applications that have been reviewed already will not be there."

Will this initial selection result in the same turmoil it has for Apple? Or was this simply a means of staging the rollout of apps? The answer to that question remains to be seen.

Surely more to come

While we're getting down to the wire, there's still a lot of time before the G1 comes out on Wednesday. No doubt, this is just the beginning of the information we'll be seeing on new Android apps. Stay tuned to ReadWriteWeb for the latest news as it becomes available.

MySpace Mobile image courtesy Android Community

The G1 is set to take the world by storm at the end of this month. It may also take Apple's iPhone down a notch or two. Early adopters and those left out of the loop with the release of the iPhone 3G are making their way to the G1. Just days after going on pre-sale the G1 sold out fast, which sent T-Mobile scrambling to place more orders. T-Mobile tripled their original number of orders to HTC for G1 devices. Since then, all of those orders have been pre-sold. The amount of units pre-sold is reported to be around 1.5 million! That figure doesn't even include the number of pre-sale orders placed in T-mobile retail stores. It is being reported that about 1 million units have been pre-ordered from T-Mobile retail stores.

Is the G1 Set to Overthrow the iPhone?

At the moment, we don't think so. However, we're excited about all that Android will offer on the G1. T-Mobile is off to a great start with the number of G1 units pre-sold. Anticipation for both the device and the Android OS is higher than initial reactions led us to believe. It will be up to the performance of Google's Android mobile OS from this point forward to determine whether it's a worthy competitor to the iPhone. Be sure to cast your prediction on Google's Android versus Apple's iPhone and check out our top 10 picks of Android apps that we can't wait to use.

Features Demoed In The Promo Video:

• Touchscreen - You can swipe across the screen, use a long press to access more features, drag-and-drop
• Music - one-click ordering from Amazon confirmed
• Music player is built in - one long press lets you access more features, like song options
• Gtalk IM included
• Address book can take you right into Google Maps
• Google Maps: Directions/Traffic View/Street View; can do panning in Street View thanks to the touch screen
• In "Compass Mode" the scene moves as you do
• In the web browser, there are onscreen controls to zoom in
• You can open multiple web pages in Google's browser
• There's a search button on keyboard
• A long press lets you share a link (URL) from within the web browser
• For apps, there's the Android Market, complete with user ratings and OTA downloads
• Pacman!

Q&A From The Press

Q: Status of T-Mobile's 3G network?
A: Will be in 22 markets by commercial launch data (October 22nd) and by mid-November it will be in 27 markets

Q: Will the phone be available in Europe?
A: There are 30 million U.S. customers and 100 million customers in the European market, so yes, it will come to Europe. It will be in the UK in early November and will be across Europe by 1st Quarter, 2009

Q: Can you use the phone as tethered modem?
A: NO

Q: Can you buy just a data plan only?
A: NO

Q: Can you view office documents?
A: You can read Word, PDF, and Excel docs

Q: Will it work with Microsoft Exchange?
A: There is no Exchange compatibility, but this is an excellent opportunity for a 3rd party developer.

Q: Can the phone be unlocked and used on other networks?
A: No, the phone is SIM-locked

Q: Is email push?
A: Gmail is push/IMAP supported

Q: Will there be a desktop app?
A: NO

Q: Does the phone work over Wi-Fi?
A: Yes

Q: What's the marketing plan?
A: Google and T-Mobile are working together to produce both TV and in-channel marketing which will debut in October. It will be the biggest campaign ever for a mobile device.

Q: Is the browser Chrome?
A: No, it is Web-Kit, which is "Chrome-like"

Q: Who's the target demographic?
A: The phone has mass appeal, there's something for everyone, but it's more of a consumer device.

Q: Will it work with iTunes?
A: It supports standard music formats like AAC, WMA, MP3, but not anything wrapped in DRM.

Pricing and Availability

The phone is less expensive than the iPhone! It's only $179.

Existing T-Mobile customers can order online on a micro-site and have shipped to their homes. October 22nd is the commercial launch date when it will be available in stores. There will be 2 plans. One is $25 for unlimited web and some messaging; the other is $35 for unlimited web and unlimited messaging. (In addition to whatever voice plan is selected).

The Open Platform

From the Google blog post about Android, we learn that there's now a new version of the SDK: Android 1.0 SDK R1. With this SDK, Android developers can tap into the hardware and software capabilities of the device, allowing them the ability to "develop more freely," Google says. This is just the opposite of what Apple allows with iPhone, a device so locked down there's not even a copy-and-paste function.

Developers will be able to distribute their apps through the Android Store, a place that will deliver the apps over-the-air to the handset, but where developers won't face the same kind of restrictions as they do with Apple. There won't be Android apps being blocked, pulled, or killed, from what it sounds like. And thanks to the Android Developer Challenge, there are already more than 1,700 applications available for the phone as of now.

Today's launch of Android on T-Mobile is only the beginning. By the end of the year, the Open Handset Alliance will open source the entire Android platform, which will allow Android to run on any wireless carrier or handset.

Note: Stay tuned. We'll update this post with some more video and images shortly.

See more Android images in the slideshow below:

New Android Videos:

Promo Video:

]]> Discuss]]> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_phone_unveiled_can_it_beat_iphone.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_phone_unveiled_can_it_beat_iphone.php Product Reviews Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:20:28 -0800 Sarah Perez