The first mobile phone powered by Google's Android mobile OS will be shipped soon. The phone, made by Taiwan-based HTC, will be launched by T-Mobile in late October, according to the latest rumors. Thus, Google will keep its promise that its partners will be releasing Android phones in the fourth quarter this year, and not next year as some rumors said. T-Mobile is apparently the only carrier which will certainly launch the Android-powered gadgets this year. Manufacturer HTC Corp. expects to ship up to 700,000 units of the device, according to WSJ estimates.

T-Mobile, a Deutsche Telekom AG unit, is expected to announce the phone, called Dream, Sept. 23, the newspaper claims, quoting people familiar with the matter. However, there is no official confirmation yet beyond that the phone will indeed ship this year.

Delays which prevented Sprint Nextel and China Mobile to make this year's launch are allegedly also brought about by Google's continuous tweaks on their operating system, which trigger a wave of modifications for developers. China Mobile had some difficulties translating Android into Chinese, encountering problems with the Chinese characters, it was reported earlier.

Android is based on the Linux operating system and was first announced on 5 November 2007, and is the result of the collaboration between Google and companies like HTC, Intel, Motorola, T-Mobile, NVIDIA and Qualcomm, all working on developing open standards for mobile devices. Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications.

Apparently, Google plans an "AppStore" for its mobile platform Android. During the Google I/O developer conference earlier this year, Andy Rubin, Android project leader, hinted about a similar place, from where the users will be able to securely download content provided by the community of Android developers. Rubin also noted that a billing system is needed in order to allow developers to get paid for their effort.

At the I/O, Google offered a live demo of Android on an unbranded mobile device. The presentation featured touch screen capabilities for a wide range of applications and Web services. In addition to that, with the help of its compass feature, which includes an accelerometer, Google’s Street View allows the user to orient the view as he turns the device.