China Mobile will next month launch an Android-based handset from HTC, according to reports in the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. Both reports state the device will be a customised version of HTC’s Magic handset, already offered by Vodafone. The Wall Street Journal speculates that the device will retail for about CNY5,000 (US$730). The move would give Google’s Android operating system a presence in the world’s largest mobile market, although this development is not unexpected; in February, Mobile Business Briefing reported in an exclusive interview with China Mobile’s chairman, Wang Jianzhou, that the operator is “heading the development of a mobile operating system called Open Mobile System” based on Android and running over its 3G TD-SCDMA network. The emergence of HTC as device supplier is a potential surprise, however, as Lenovo has previously been tipped to be the first manufacturer of a China Mobile/Android device (previously dubbed the ‘OPhone’).

Separately, China Mobile and ST-Ericsson announced today they have struck an agreement for the supply of chipsets that aims to help push TD-SCDMA technology to the mass market in the country. The silicon will be used in the commercial launch of handsets by four device vendors between now and the end of next year, targeting both high-end and low-cost handsets. The supply of a wide variety of TD-SCDMA handsets is deemed crucial to success of the 3G technology, especially as China Mobile is competing against globally established 3G standards WCDMA (China Unicom) and EV-DO (China Telecom).