MarketWatch: T-Mobile’s Google Android phone not a game-changer
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 04:58 PM EST"Plain-vanilla wireless carrier T-Mobile USA is now taking a Ben & Jerry's approach with an exotic new flavor, but the company's shift in strategy is unlikely to convert many rival customers to its cause," Jeffry Bartash reports for MarketWatch.
"The new 'flavor' is the G1 phone, a stylish Google-powered handset that does most of the things an iPhone does, with a few added twists. The privately held service provider, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, unveiled the device Tuesday at a packed press conference in New York," Bartash reports.
"The G1 is unique because it's the first in the industry to be based on Android, which is Google Inc.'s operating system for mobile phones," Bartash reports.
"It's unlikely the T-Mobile phone will do much to wrestle customers away from rival carriers, analysts say. Most subscribers are locked into annual contracts and the price of the G1 is just $20 less than Apple Inc.'s iPhone. In addition, the cheapest monthly plan for the G1 is $65 -- just $5 less than the comparable iPhone plan," Bartash reports.
"'I thought they would have gotten a lot more aggressive on pricing,' said Tero Kuittinen, a longtime wireless analyst at Global Crown Capital. The brand power of Apple is so strong, he added, that T-Mobile and little-known HTC of Taiwan will have a hard time competing on the same stage as the iPhone without a sharper price differential," Bartash reports.
Full article here.

Plus it supposedly does not have a standard headphone jack....