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Report: T-Mobile ready for Google phone launch

T-Mobile is telling employees to prepare for the launch of a Google Android phone in early January that will be sold directly by Google, a report says.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Tom Krazit
2 min read

The ethereal Google Phone could arrive as early as January 5 on T-Mobile's network, according to a report.

Google could start selling the Nexus One directly to consumers on January 5, according to a new report. Cory O'Brien via Twitter

That's according to TmoNews, a blog that obsessively tracks the movements of T-Mobile. It says it has obtained an internal training document that mentions the Google Phone, thought to be the Nexus One phone distributed to Google employees earlier this month.

In the document, T-Mobile informs its employees that "the Google Android phone will be sold solely by Google via the Web," backing up other reports that Google is about to make a radical departure from its previous phone strategy and "compete with its customers," something Google Android chief Andy Rubin had said the company was not interested in doing.

The document makes no mention of timing, but TmoNews said its sources believe the phone will launch on January 5 at 9 a.m., just before the major CES trade show gets underway in Las Vegas (we presume that's 9 a.m. Pacific time, but the document didn't stipulate the time zone). Engadget reported a similar launch date last week.

We still don't know what the Nexus One/Google Android phone will cost, or even whether sales of the phone will be limited to a small number of registered developers, as Google as done with two previous phones. However, it's hard to believe that T-Mobile would need to gear up for the launch of a phone sold in very limited qualities.

Ever since Google said it had no plans to sell its own phone directly to consumers in October, it has refused to comment on its Android strategy as reports it was about to do just that have built. A Google representative did not return an e-mail seeking comment on Tuesday.