Google's Android operating system enters the mobile phone market

Called Android, Google said its software system would make the Internet work as smoothly on mobile phones as it does on computers. In a departure from industry norms, Google will allowing independent designers to tinker with Android.

Google-based phones are likely to hit the market in the latter half of next year, when Deutsche Telekom''s T-Mobile says it will start selling Google software-based phones. The world''s largest mobile carrier China Mobile, Japan''s NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, as well as European and Latin American operator Telefonica also said they were working with handset makers to develop Google-based phones.

Google said it has forged an alliance with 33 companies, including phone makers Motorola, Samsung, and High Tech Computer. "We''re hoping thousands of different mobile phones will be powered by Android," Google CEO Eric Schmidt told the media.

In another departure from convention, Google is offering the software for free. The company hopes operators will pass along something like 10 per cent savings to customers through phone subsidies or lower monthly fees. The company is looking to strike revenue-sharing deals with carriers who agree to lower monthly data charges, expanding the potential audience for use of the Web on phones.

Google also said it is is in no rush to see operators change the way they charge for their services, but new ways of making money - like advertising-subsidised offerings - would soon be possible.

The company aims to expand the range of web services it now offers for computer browsers to the far-larger mobile phone market, in which hundreds of conflicting handset designs and software standards compete. Google''s system is up against mobile operating systems backed by Nokia, Microsoft and Apple''s iPhone.