Google Phones Running Behind Schedule

Issues with Android software will delay launch to 4th quarter
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 23, 2008 11:15 AM CDT
Google Phones Running Behind Schedule
A man demonstrates Google's Android software platform at the World Mobile Congress, in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008.   (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

It turns out revolutionizing the mobile-phone industry isn’t as easy as Google thought it would be. The first phones to bear the search giant’s much-anticipated Android platform won’t ship until the fourth quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports, because carriers are having trouble customizing the software. Many despair of having Android offerings at all in 2008.

T-Mobile should have an Android phone out by the fourth quarter, but Google has been working so hard on it that the company has neglected Sprint, which will likely have to wait until 2009—as might China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier. The main problem is carriers wanting to brand and tweak Android’s features. “This is where the pain happens,” says Google’s mobile director. “We are very, very close.” (More Google Android stories.)

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