T-Mobile hopes to sell over half a million G1 Android phones before the end of the year, according to estimates reportedly supplied to AndroidGuys. The figures would have T-Mobile preparing to add about 200,000 new customers through selling the G1 as well as 40,000 incremental additions. As many as 278,000 of the buyers would be owners renewing their contracts to upgrade to the device, bringing the total to about 518,000 of the HTC-made devices.
The G1 is expected by most observers to launch sometime in mid-November and so would have less than two months to reach the target. By comparison, the original iPhone is believed to have counted approximately a quarter million device sales during its opening weekend.
Pre-orders, however, may be limited to as few as 25,000 devices before the actual release date. A separate claim from Tmonews suggests that any low numbers may be due to a controlled launch that would only hand out G1 preorders to subscribers in T-Mobile's currently limited 3G coverage area.
Pricing information has also allegedly slipped out and would compare the G1 favorably to Apple's handsets: a typical discount on the Android phone would cost the same $200 as an 8GB iPhone 3G, but would cost significantly less than the iPhone when contract-free at $399 versus Apple's $599. Discounts would also apply to those who don't qualify for full upgrades or those pre-ordering the device, with prices dipping as low as $150.
No mention is made of rumored ad-based discounts that would reduce the price in return for ads at strategic locations in the interface.
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