Newsflash

SAN FRANCISCO: T-Mobile is to launch the first phone based on Google's Android design Sept 17, in hopes that the new device will compete with Apple's iPhone, Wired magazine reported on Friday.

The smartphone will be manufactured by Taiwan-based High Tech Computer, and will have a large touch screen that slides out to reveal a five-row

QWERTY keyboard

The device, which will be called the G1, will sell for $150 to T-Mobile customers in the first week of launch before it is offered to other customers at a higher price.

Google developed the Android design to help it expand its successful advertising business into the increasingly lucrative mobile market. It released the parameters to an alliance of mobile phone carriers, developers and manufacturers earlier in the year.