Samsung delays Android phone launch

A number of handset makers are poised to launch the official follow-up to the first Android phone this week, but Samsung Electronics will not be one of them.

 

Samsung, the world's number two mobile phone firm, was expected to unveil a new device running Google's Android OS at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, with a full launch due next quarter.

 

But on Friday, Samsung mobile device marketing head Lee Younghee told The Guardian that it was pushing back the Android device launch until at least the second half of 2009.

 

Lee gave no reasons for the delay, but Samsung is the second vendor in a month to put an Android-based device on hold.

 

Last month, Australian electronics firm Kogan - which planned to release the world's second Android smartphone at the end of January - put the project on hold indefinitely two weeks before launch due to "potential future interoperability issues". Kogan was forced to refund pre-orders of the phone.

 

Even with Samsung out of the Android spotlight for the moment, at least two other vendors are still on track to debut new Android gear this week, including smartphone maker HTC, which built the G1 for T-Mobile, and Huawei Technologies.