T-Mobile in smart phone competition
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: AT&T reports higher profits this morning, thanks in part to the iPhone. AT&T is the sole carrier for that very successful smart phone. But they do have new competition. T-Mobile today starts selling the G-1 — G as in Google software. I’m going to transfer you now to reporter Mitchell Hartman.
Mitchell Hartman: Sales of the iPhone helped power Apple to a $1.1 billion quarterly profit, reported yesterday after the bell.
But now comes T-Mobile’s G-1. Like the iPhone, it has a touchscreen, media player, and web browser. And it adds a pull-out keyboard, plus access to a host of applications based on Google’s new open-source Android operating system.
Kent German covers cell phones for CNET:
Kent German: The phone really becomes more of a computer in the sense that you can really kinda do what you want with it.
At $179, the G-1 is already cheaper than the iPhone. Motorola’s working on a Google-based phone, with easy access to MySpace, that’ll be as low as $150.
German: I think that these other entries, the price will make a huge difference. A lot of these phones, if it’s too expensive, that really does really strike them out from being very competitive.
At $199, the iPhone is already subsidized by wireless partner AT&T, a cost that’s squeezing AT&T’s bottom line.
I’m Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.
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