NEW YORK, Sept 23: Internet search leader Google took a giant leap into the mobile phone market on Tuesday, unveiling a handset developed with telecom carrier T-Mobile to compete with Apple’s hot-selling iPhone.

The T-Mobile G1, the first mobile device powered by Google’s open-source Android software, will be available in stores in the United States on Oct 22 and will cost 179 dollars.

Cole Brodman, T-Mobile chief technology and innovation officer, called the G1, built by the Taiwanese firm HTC, a “game-changing” device which will “power a new mobile Internet of the future”.

The G1, which is a bit thicker but slightly narrower than an iPhone, will go on sale in Britain in early November and in other European countries served by T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG, early next year.

The G1 offers many of the features of the iPhone and Research in Motion’s popular BlackBerry, including a touch screen similar to that of the iPhone, a trackball for navigation, high-speed internet browsing, Wi-Fi, e-mail, instant messaging and SMS texting.—AFP