G1 News

Flying in the face of recent statements, Gameloft have issued a press release unveiling plans to launch High Definition gaming on the new breed of Android phones including the Motorola DROID/MILESTONE and Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10, as well as cementing their support of current generation Google-powered devices.

Earlier this week, Gameloft’s finance director Alexadre de Rochefort spoke of scaling back investment for the fledgling platform, citing iPhone sales as being 400 times higher than on Android Market for their games in the last quarter, as well as a lack of assistance from Google in the promotion of titles.

Whilst the press release places a great deal of emphasis on referring to the ‘2nd generation’ of Android phones, it seems as though Gameloft are attmempting to clarify their intentions of maintaining a presence on the operating system, at present as well as in the future.

In that case, are they scaling back investment, or not?

This latest announcement does little to play down rumours that Gameloft may concentrate their efforts on iPhone in the meantime, with a view to ramping up Android development once the platform has a bigger slice of the smartphone market and a wider range of handsets available to consumers.

Having been to India myself lately, one thing they are not playing around with is mobile phones. With movie megastar Aamit Khan plugging the Samsung Omnia and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 being plastered all over Mumbai International Airport, their mobile phone industry has expanded far beyond clockwork Nokias with monochrome screens in the East…for the rich.

With smartphones priced way out of reach of many in India, industry commentators were looking to see a version of the Android-powered HTC Dream phone being released in this territory late in 2008 as an entry level alternative.  Well, we are now into 2009, and still no nearer to seeing the G1 having a concrete release date over there.

Reports say HTC are in advanced talks with a leading service provider and would prefer to introduce the HTC G1 Android phone in India through a close association with a single network, as they have done with T-Mobile in the US and Europe.

The HTC G1 Android phone is rumoured to be released at a cost of over 20,000 Rupees, far higher than the launch price overseas, but lower than astronomical 31,000 Rupees (£420!) they are charging for an 8GB Apple iPhone.

Perhaps there will be a cheap and cheerful resolution to the Android smartphone stalemate in India in the form of the Kogan Pro…we’ll wait and see.

Oh, the picture? That’s me (on the left) touching an elephant in Kerala. Any other questions? Didn’t think so.

Sony Ericsson has today announced they are in the process of creating their first Android handset, having joined the Open Handset Alliance.

And according to the CVP of Creation and Development, Rikko Sakaguchi, the phone could be part of the Cybershot, Walkman or even Xperia stables…

“We believe Sony Ericsson can bring a wealth of experience in making consumer focused multimedia handsets with new user experience to the Alliance drawing on the successes of the Walkman and Cyber-shot sub-brands.  Sony Ericsson is a strong supporter of open operating systems and we believe the Open Handset Alliance offers an exciting opportunity for a new and unique user experience only Sony Ericsson can deliver.”

Sounds like there will be some pretty impressive flagship phones in the near future from Sony, and goes some way to explaining the kind words said about Android surrounding the Xperia’s launch event… The fact that Sony are clearly stating that Android will ‘compliment’ as opposed to replace their existing operating systems of Symbian and more recently Windows Mobile means that no-one is going to be left out in the cold following this announcement.

Exciting times!

Source: Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog