In an effort to stave off competition from KDDI and Softbank, Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has announced that Android will have a spot among the ten smartphones they aim to release next year. Due within the first half of 2009, there’s no word if it will be the same G1 launched on T-Mobile two weeks back, although it’s likely considering how closeby HTC factories are. China also has plans to get Android rolling by 2009, likely around Q2, and are even more likely to adopt a preexisting HTC design. Whether or not DoCoMo and China Mobile will be offering some new Android hardware is uncertain, but I’m sure we’d like to see something new to give the platform a little more spice. As is, the G1’s form factor has more than a couple of people grimacing.
[Taipei Times via Talk Android]