Far EasTone raises Android plans on Gphone anniversary

The Taiwanese mobile service provider now plans to launch four Android handsets

By Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service, 09/23/09

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On the one-year anniversary of the debut of Google's Android mobile software on its first handset, the T-Mobile G1, Taiwanese mobile phone service provider Far EasTone raised the number of Android smartphones it plans to launch this year.

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Far EasTone will offer its customers up to four Android handsets this year, with the first one likely to be unveiled in mid-October, a company representative said Wednesday. Previously, Far EasTone had planned for only two.

The most intriguing part of Far EasTone's impending Android phone launch is that the company has said it's working with a "leading" Taiwanese handset maker for at least two of the handsets, and it's not High Tech Computer (HTC). The representative said it's probably not Acer, either, leaving only a few potential companies, including Garmin-Asus, the joint venture between Garmin and Asustek Computer, as well as Gigabyte Technology and possibly Innocomm Mobile Technology, which showed off an Android smartphone with a 2.8-inch touchscreen earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Far EasTone has been working on Android-related projects for several months now, including developing customized software and new mobile services that run on Android with local software developers.

The company is part of the Conexus Mobile Alliance, which includes major service providers from around Asia such as Japan's largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo. The group has launched competitions and offered incentives throughout Asia to encourage local software developers to create applications that work on Android. Far EasTone's competition in Taiwan is called Mobile Heroes in which three winners will receive NT$500,000 (US$15,495) in cash for first prize, NT$300,000 for second and NT$100,000 for third.

Far EasTone's announcement shows how far Android has come over the past year as a potent new software for smartphones. Google's Android has benefitted from a number of companies joining its Open Handset Alliance and launching or announcing new smartphones for the OS.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

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