US punters line up to buy Google's phone

PEOPLE LINED UP in major cities across the US yesterday, waiting to snap up Google's G1 rival to Apple's Iphone.

The new smartphone features a touchscreen like the Iphone, but it also sports a trackball and a slide-out keyboard similar to those on RIM's crackberry devices.

It runs open sauce Linux based Android software that both Google and the Open Handset Alliance hope will provide a base for the widespread development of robust third-party mobile applications.

Google's G1 sells for $179 with a two-year contract from US telecomm provider T-Mobile.

It's available only in US cities that T-Mobile has upgraded to its third generation (3G) wireless data network. µ

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