Dark Atheist

Google's Android is going mainstream.

The G1, the first phone to run the search giant's mobile platform, has been a magnet for tech-savvy people, consumers more than 1 million handsets since October 2008. Now wireless operator T-Mobile wants Google's second Android phone, which will be available later this summer, to attract a broader audience and sell even more briskly.

To reach the rank and file, T-Mobile is retraining its staff and commissioning new applications for the phone. It also created a new brand, called myTouch, to highlight the ways users can personalize the device. "We know we'll get tech-oriented folks, but our real focus is the [general] consumer," says Sajal Sahay, T-Mobile USA's director of product marketing. The phone will go on sale in August for $199 with a two-year contract.

The changes begin with the name: It will be the T-Mobile myTouch 3G with Google or myTouch 3G for short. The idea, says Sahay, is to promote the idea of a phone "made by you, for you," since people are more likely to bond with gadgets they can customize.

News source: forbes.com