BenQ – the Taiwanese consumer electronics maker – has plans to launch a smartphone and netbook running Google’s Android operating system in 2010, a company representative confirmed recently. This announcement has added BenQ to an expanding list of companies that are either already developing or planning smartphones and mini-laptops running Android software rather than Microsoft Windows.
The Android operating system for smartphones has been developed by Google. It is intended to make communications and Web browsing easy, especially on Google sites such as Gmail and Google Maps. Windows XP is used in a majority of netbooks.
BenQ sells notebooks right now under the name Joybook Lite which runs on Microsoft Windows XP. It also sells mobile phones which run on the Symbian OS and a mobile Internet service with a Linux OS. A few years ago, the company was a competing member in the mobile phone industry. However, its acquisition of Siemen’s mobile phone division was not a success and there were increasing losses and decreasing market share.
A BenQ representative said that the company, in its bid to rebuild its credibility in the mobile phone arena, expects to market an Android-based smartphone next year. There is a netbook based on Android also on standby for next year, but its makeup hasn’t yet been decided.
Specifications and specific release dates for these products are not yet out.