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This isn't the Droid T-Mobile is looking for...
Motorola tantalised with the Droid when it was unveiled in the US by mobile network Verizon, but here in the UK we’re left not knowing which network will pick it up – or if it’ll even launch here.
It’s already been confirmed for Germany under the name 'Milestone', with O2 being the lucky network to have the Droid onside. T3 can reveal however that here in the UK, the Droid won’t be launching on mobile networks O2 or T-Mobile, with Nicola Shenton, Head of Handset and Device Marketing at T-Mobile UK, confirming to us today that they passed up the Droid some months ago.
According to Shenton, they tested it six months ago, though it wasn’t running Android’s latest version of software, Éclair 2.0, at the time. She recalled that it was a “great phone[COLOR=darkgreen ! important][/COLOR], had a lot to offer” and that the software, even back then, was still used to the Droid’s advantage. Why T-Mobile passed up the Droid is unknown, but with the network already selling the G1 and Hero (both manufactured by HTC) and the Huawei-made Pulse, there’s a chance that it just didn’t sit right amongst their portfolio, or for their target customers. T-Mobile's become known as the destination for Android devices here in the UK, thanks to its early involvement with the Open Handset Alliance and the launch of the G1 last October, where it was the first company worldwide to release an Android mobile.
With T-Mobile and O2 out of the Motorola Droid race, it's up to Orange, Vodafone or 3 Mobile to bring this innovative Android device to the UK. Orange confirmed some months back that they had "at least three new market-leading devices to be unveiled by the end of the year". So far they've announced the Motorola DEXT, HTC Hero and iPhone, but they did say "at least," which is giving us hope for a Motorola Droid release.
{Source: T3 - Motorola Droid not coming to T-Mobile or O2 in the UK | T3 magazine}
Motorola tantalised with the Droid when it was unveiled in the US by mobile network Verizon, but here in the UK we’re left not knowing which network will pick it up – or if it’ll even launch here.
It’s already been confirmed for Germany under the name 'Milestone', with O2 being the lucky network to have the Droid onside. T3 can reveal however that here in the UK, the Droid won’t be launching on mobile networks O2 or T-Mobile, with Nicola Shenton, Head of Handset and Device Marketing at T-Mobile UK, confirming to us today that they passed up the Droid some months ago.
According to Shenton, they tested it six months ago, though it wasn’t running Android’s latest version of software, Éclair 2.0, at the time. She recalled that it was a “great phone[COLOR=darkgreen ! important][/COLOR], had a lot to offer” and that the software, even back then, was still used to the Droid’s advantage. Why T-Mobile passed up the Droid is unknown, but with the network already selling the G1 and Hero (both manufactured by HTC) and the Huawei-made Pulse, there’s a chance that it just didn’t sit right amongst their portfolio, or for their target customers. T-Mobile's become known as the destination for Android devices here in the UK, thanks to its early involvement with the Open Handset Alliance and the launch of the G1 last October, where it was the first company worldwide to release an Android mobile.
With T-Mobile and O2 out of the Motorola Droid race, it's up to Orange, Vodafone or 3 Mobile to bring this innovative Android device to the UK. Orange confirmed some months back that they had "at least three new market-leading devices to be unveiled by the end of the year". So far they've announced the Motorola DEXT, HTC Hero and iPhone, but they did say "at least," which is giving us hope for a Motorola Droid release.
{Source: T3 - Motorola Droid not coming to T-Mobile or O2 in the UK | T3 magazine}
