14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that we won't see a Samsung handset to run under Google's Android platform in the first two quarters of this year. The Korean mobile phone maker is reported to have delayed the launch of the device until the second half of 2009, although it was expected to make the announcement regarding the Android-powered phone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in a couple of days.
Younghee Lee, head of marketing at Samsung's mobile device division, stated recently that the company would not unveil such a device at the conference, but that the handset was “planned internally” for launch in the second half of the year. At the same time, she also said that the company was discussing with carriers about taking a Samsung-designed Android phone.
On the other hand, Samsung announced recently what it claims to be one of its flagship handsets for the year, a slimmer variant of the already popular Tocco phone. During the last few months of 2008, the Tocco touchscreen device became the most popular handset among UK users signing up for a monthly contract. The new phone should become available next month, and the company expects it to be as popular as the original.
Samsung plans to focus more on the touchscreen area of the market in 2009, since the industry is having hard times due to economic slump, while the mobile phone market is seen as polarizing. Touchscreens are currently among the most requested phones in the mature markets, where customers look either for low-end devices, or for the top-of-the-line ones.
As for the Android handsets, this year we should see a wide range of these released into the wild. The first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, made by Taiwan's HTC, hasn't seen the expected success, yet the manufacturer is expected to announced the second Android device, the G2, at the MWC show.