A Google executive may have inadvertently tipped the wireless industry's hand on the launch timeframe for Android phones.
Ever since introducing Android, a mobile-phone operating system, last November, Google has said that Android-loaded phones would be available in the second half of this year.
However, on Monday, Richard Whitt, Google's Washington telecom and media counsel, put a finer grain on the launch expectations during a conference call about Google's plans for the "white spaces" spectrum, saying the phones could be out as soon as the US summer or autumn of this year.
After the call, Google representatives reiterated that the launch expectations for Android phones were unchanged at "second half of 2008", emphasising that the exact launch schedule is up to Google's partners.
However, Google is likely privy to that schedule, since they'd probably want to show up for the party or something, and just about all of North American summer — and all of autumn — takes place during the second half of the year.
The debut of an Android phone in the summer or early autumn could give Google and its partners a chance to test the market during the back-to-school or holiday shopping bonanzas in the second half of the calendar year.
CNET News.com's Anne Broache contributed to this report.
