HTC Dream with Google Android releasing next week

Google's Android will be unveiled to the world on its first officially-supported device, the HTC Dream, on September 23. T-Mobile, third-largest mobile carrier in the US and Google's launch partner, sent out invites Tuesday to next week's press conference in New York. T-Mobile plans to demo the device and OS to reporters then and there, although the Android-enabled Dream isn't expected to land in stores until October.

Google and T-Mobile began cozying up around April of this year as the carrier became the first to plan an Android launch, scheduled for the second half of 2008. Since then, rumors cropped up about a possible Android delay, with various handset manufacturers and carriers complaining of holdups in development that could push them into 2009. However, buzz about the launch started up again last month when insiders who were briefed on T-Mobile's plans said that all three companies—Google, HTC, and T-Mobile—planned to announce the device in September.

In fact, the HTC Dream is only expected to be the first of several Android-enabled devices from T-Mobile, although it has also been hailed as one of the most impressive so far. A video of the device being used with Android software popped up on YouTube in August, but it's not as if HTC's involvement with Google was ever a huge secret. The Android-capable HTC Dream, with its large touchscreen and slide-out keyboard, was even demoed at the Google I/O conference earlier this year.

Google has insisted all along that everything's still on track for a late 2008 launch, and it looks like that will end up being true. The HTC Dream will undoubtedly be hailed as a major step for Android, and hopefully the straggling carriers will be able to follow up with their own Android toys shortly after T-Mobile's launch. And, assuming the Android launch goes as smoothly as Google would like, more carriers around the world may soon be able to offer a device with mass appeal similar to that of the iPhone.
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