Wireless carrier T-Mobile will launch a smartphone powered by Google's Android software before the end of the year to compete with players such as Microsoft, Research In Motion, Apple and Palm.

The mobile device, which will be produced by manufacturer HTC, could arrive on shelves in the United States as early as October. If the commercial release goes forward as planned, it would make T-Mobile the first carrier to offer a handset on the Android operating platform.

"There's a lot of anticipation and speculation as to what the features of Android devices will be, and some have been demoed, such as the touch screen, 3D capabilities and the rich-media experience," said Bonny Joy, analyst for Strategy Analytics, New York. "They've shown a prototype, but we still don't know exactly what the product will look like.

"It's good news for T-Mobile and Google that they're able to launch an Android device before the end of this year, because it's an indication that things are progressing on track," he said.

Before the release is announced, it must be approved by the Federal Communications Commision.

"To prepare for Android's public launch, we are testing the platform on a variety of devices," said Erin Fors, spokewoman for Google, Mountain View, CA. "This process ensures we have an opportunity to receive feedback from users.

"We have nothing to announce at this time but we look forward to sharing Android updates with you in the future," she said.

Google, T-Mobile and HTC would like to be able to announce the release of the Android device by next month to prepare it for a holiday release, according to a report in The New York Times.

An anonymous person who posted a YouTube video of the device called it the "HTC Dream."

In addition to an iPhone-like touch screen, the HTC Android phone will have a five-row QWERTY keyboard that slides in and out.

While T-Mobile has been slow in driving the high-end smartphone segment, a release of this magnitude would signal that the company is catching up with the other carriers.

"T-Mobile, in general, does not have a standardized device in the U.S. to compete in the smartphone space yet," Mr. Joy said. "They've been lagging behind other carriers, because they don't have a media-rich portfolio to provide data revenues."

AT&T offers Apple's iPhone, while both Verizon Wireless and Sprint offer Research In Motion's BlackBerry products.

"That's really promising that T-Mobile is bringing a real differentiator in the smartphone segment to market, provided that Android can really add value," Mr. Joy said.

"Launching a product with all of the development bugs fixed and a wide range of applications is a huge challenge, but if Google can bring that to market successfully, they will be a serious competitor for the other major operating systems," he said.

Other major operating systems that Android will attempt to compete with include Windows Mobile, Research In Motion, Symbian and Linux.

Android is a platform meant for open source, royalty-free development to encourage innovation in services and applications.

Qualcomm, LG and Samsung all have plans to launch products on the Android platform.

"It will be a tough battle ahead for Google given that they're launching the Android product at a late stage of the game," Mr. Joy said. "The news that they're finally bringing it to market is really good for them and for T-Mobile."