Android Launch Event Date Gets Confirmed

On Tuesday, at a session at its Google Developer day in London, Google's Mike Jennings demonstrated a working Android mobile phone for "the first time in Europe." The slides (one above) clearly seem to resemble the HTC Dream, though branding was redacted.

Jennings said:

"The cool stuff is running your own apps! I spent two hours writing my own apps using a background thread and surface view to access the hardware buffer.

"Manufacturers are not going to be charged for putting this on their phones. Lots of people use mobile phones. Lots of people in Europe have two. We wanted to get into that. We're really hoping the mobile community comes round this and continues to bring it forward. We think it's cool. You'll be able to write apps and distribute them to friends very easily."

When asked to make a call on it, he continued, "I can't show it off any more, I'll be out of a job."

Jennings did indicate that Android can be used on any embedded device.

At the same time, while prior reports had a launch (and pre-sales) occurring as early as Sept. 17th, sources said the launch event will be in New York on Sept. 23rd, with devices in-store by Oct. 17th.

While the in-store date is still unconfirmed, the launch date is, with media being sent invitations to the event on Wednesday (shown below):

Excitement, anyone?

Update: according to the WSJ, the phone will sell for $199 with a service plan.