Dell is teaming with telecom colossus AT&T, exclusive carrier for Apple’s iPhones in the United States, to launch an Android-based smartphone next year, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
At AT&T spokesman said the company had “no comment” and Texas-based Dell did not respond to inquiries.<\/p>\n
The report came a day after Verizon Wireless and Google announced that mobile phones powered by Android software will be introduced in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
Verizon Wireless and Google said they planned to commit “substantial resources” to a strategic partnership to deliver “leading-edge mobile applications, services and devices.”<\/p>\n
“Through this partnership, we hope to deliver greater innovation in the mobile space to consumers across the US,” said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.<\/p>\n
Verizon Wireless and Google said they plan to co-develop several Android-based devices made by “leading handset manufacturers.”<\/p>\n
A growing number of US telecom carriers and manufacturers have been adopting Google’s open-source Android software in bids to challenge the Apple iPhone and Blackberry from Research in Motion.<\/p>\n
Android is already being used to run smartphones from Motorola and T-Mobile and US wireless carrier Sprint Nextel and Taiwan’s HTC have announced plans to release a touch-screen phone in October powered by Android.<\/p>\n
Technology industry tracker Gartner predicts that Android-based smartphones will capture 14% of the global market by the year 2012, as compared with a mere two percent today, according to a report in Computerworld.<\/p>\n