The world awaits T-Mobile's and HTC's attempted "iPhone killer," the first Google Android smartphone You rarely see the media make a fuss over a mobile device launch that doesn’t have Apple’s name on it, but this one deserves some attention. T-Mobile USA will unveil the first handset based on Google’s Linux-based Android platform later this morning, and there’s a lot of excitement around it. Press pundits won’t be able to resist the urge to call T-Mobile’s G1, which is based on HTC’s Dream handset, the “iPhone killer.” That banner has been stapled to too many smart phones to make it meaningful. What the T-Mobile G1 is most likely to do is steal some of iPhone’s buzz on two fronts: downloadable applications and 3G speed. T-Mobile’s debut of the G1 handset is timed to coincide with another rollout, the broad expansion of the carrier’s 3G network to 27 metro markets before the end of 2008. If you live in New York, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio or San Diego, you’re already covered. According to T-Mobile, you can take your T-Mobile SIM card out of a GSM device, put it in a handset with UMTS/HSDPA, and be on 3G. No special provisioning is required. If you live in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco or Seattle, you’ll only have to wait until mid-October for that 3G icon to light up. Birmingham, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Memphis and Tampa will be on-line before the end of the year. The press conference is revving up. We’ll soon know those key details that T-Mobile hasn’t yet made public: When the T-Mobile G1 will be available, what it will cost, and how to get one. You’ll know as soon as I do. Technology Industry