11:37 PM
LegalWatch
The first cellphone based on Google's Android operating system, T-Mobile's G1, will go onsale in the US today.
T-Mobile had been targetting to sell 500,000 units by Christmas, but today said it's taken more than 1.5 million pre-orders for the G1.
That's good news for HTC, the Taiwanese company that's manufacturing the G1 handset. HTC has announced it's now tripled its initial production run.
And it could be even better news for Rakon, the New Zealand technology sucess story whose oscillating crystals are used in GPS systems – including those increasingly found in smartphones (and soon, most phones; Nokia says more than half its models will feature GPS by 2010).
Rakon marketing manager Justin Maloney confirms that Rakon has a close relationship with HTC, and supplies GPS components for many of its models.
However, an upbeat Maloney said contractual stipulations mean he can't comment on the specific HTC models that feature Rakon electronics. The company has previously been tied to Apple's iPhone, but again was coy on confirming.
Another Rakon link is suggested by the fact several US financial blogsites have reported that tomorrow Silicon Valley-based SIRF Technology will confirm detailed leaks suggesting its SIRF Star III GPS chip is used by the G1. (SIRF's shares, which have suffered recently due to a patent dispute with Broadcom, rose 5% today as the NASDAQ declined 3%).
Maloney confirms that SIRF and Rakon's products work in close concert, and frequently appear in the same products.
