T-Mobile opens myTouch 3G to pre-orders

T-Mobile USA kicked off a pre-order program today for existing customers for its previously announced myTouch 3G device, the second HTC Android phone to be sold by the carrier. The effort appears geared to generate buzz for the forthcoming device as well as mollify T-Mobile customers hungry to upgrade to the latest Android gadget.

[1]T-Mobile said existing customers who order the device during the pre-sale period--from July 8 to 28--can qualify for myTouch 3G delivery sometime before the national retail launch (though the carrier didn't say exactly when that early delivery would occur). T-Mobile said the "national retail availability" of the device will begin Aug. 5.

The myTouch 3G, which is essentially a rebranded HTC Magic, will sell for $199.99 with a two-year contract and features a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen display, no physical keyboard and a 3.2-megapixel camera. The myTouch 3G also has WiFi capabilities, video playback and a music player.

Interestingly, T-Mobile said it will launch a new application within Android Market called AppPack that the carrier said "will highlight a variety of noteworthy applications to help customers further personalize their myTouch 3G, manage their T-Mobile accounts and help make the most of their T-Mobile experience." Applications in the offering will include Sherpa, imeem mobile and Movies by Flixster, plus T-Mobile applications including myAccount, myFaves, HotSpot Locator and Visual Voicemail. The move appears to reflect T-Mobile's strategy to push its services through another vendor's application distribution system, a tactic that other wireless carriers have so far been reluctant to embrace, preferring instead to have their wares pre-installed on devices.

For more:
- see this release [2]

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