This year, Google employees will receive a version of T-Mobile’s G1 cell phone as Xmas gift Instead of the $1,000 pay cheque bonus. The custom G1 phone will be given to 85 per cent of Google’s 20,123 global staff in the United States, Western and Central Europe, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Japan according to an internal Email sent to Google employees. Small calculations, this save at least $17M for Google !!

An anonymous Googler has passed along a Q&A covering the full details of their oh-so-Dreamy holiday bonus to Gizmodo :

The holiday bonus is a Google tradition. In the past, we have chosen to make this a monetary gift. This year we decided to try something different: on December 19th, we will begin distributing free Dream phones to Googlers worldwide.

A great opportunity to encourage google employees to try the dream phone and dogfood the phones !

Since OHM have a UK address, we ordered the developers edition of the G1 so we could have more interesting experiments and applications for you. It’s $399 USD as announced, but the total is slightly different. First we tried to use our US address to profit from the free shipping, but unfortunately it was not accepted. We will have an extra $42.60 for shipping and handling, that’s a total of $441.6 – still acceptable.

After entering the shipping, now time to finalize order but I just noticed a different total of $527.25. There is another Tax to be paid of $85.65. So the overall price of the developer edition is $399 Tax Free, or to be more precise for US only. There will be an extra $100 or more depending on the country you are shipping to.

The case of UK for example the total will be $527 USD, I don’t know about other countries, but I think the price remain acceptable for us to get a gadget that you can use to test your android applications on real device. Selected specs for Android Dev Phone 1:

• Touch screen
• Trackball
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus
• Wi-Fi
• GPS-enabled
• Bluetooth v2.0
  • Handsfree profile v1.5
  • Headset profile v1.0
• 3G WCDMA (1700/2100 MHz)
• Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• QWERTY slider keyboard
• Includes 1GB MicroSD card (can be replaced with up to 16GB card)

Just a reminder that the G1 Dev phone is available in 18 international markets, including the US, UK, Germany, Japan, India, Canada, France, Taiwan, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and Hungary (free shipping in the US only).

Check android project page for more information on Devices availability for developers. Android Dev G1 could be ordered from Android market.

Update : We have information that the G1 Dev Phone cost $537 USD for France ($95 taxes and $42 shipping)!

After a Digitimes report today, clarifications came from Garmin to explain the company position and disputes the claims made in the DigiTimes.  You can read below Garmin press release, but the most interesting to know for the community is that Garmin have currently Android-based phone under development however there is no additional information about that product at this time.

“Although the press release doesn’t refer to the nüvifone specifically, you should also be aware that the information DigiTimes reported about the nüvifone was also inaccurate.” A  Garmin Spokesperson told OHM, ” The nüvifone we announced in January 2008 does not have an Android OS. The nüvifone OS is based on a modified version of Linux. “

Garmin is one of the 14 new members who joined recently the OHA. Stay updated with OHM, there is more coming in 2009 !

Below the press release :

CAYMAN ISLANDS/December 22, 2008/Business Wire – Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, is disputing a Monday, December 22 report in the DigiTimes trade  publication entitled, “Garmin expects to ship 18 million GPS PNDs in 2008.” The story contains a number of inaccuracies in both sales figures and product rollout schedules.

“Black Friday sales from our customers were what we expected and gross margins remain relatively strong,” said Kevin Rauckman, Garmin’s CFO and treasurer. “However, the December sales environment is weaker, which we attribute to our retail customers’ desire to exit the year with lower levels of inventory.”

As is customary, Garmin will update investors during its fourth quarter 2008 earnings call, scheduled for February 25, 2009.

About Garmin

The global leader in satellite navigation, Garmin Ltd. and its subsidiaries have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold navigation, communication and information devices and applications since 1989 – most of which are enabled by GPS technology. Garmin’s products serve automotive, mobile, wireless, outdoor recreation, marine, aviation, and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at www.garmin.com/pressroom or contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200. Garmin is a registered trademark of Garmin Ltd.

This week the open handset alliance announced 14 new members : AKM Semiconductor Inc., ARM, ASUSTek Computer Inc., Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International Inc., Huawei Technologies, Omron Software Co. Ltd, Softbank Mobile Corporation, Sony Ericsson, Teleca AB, Toshiba Corporation and Vodafone. From the press release :

New members will either deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android-based devices. With these commitments, the Open Handset Alliance will continue to drive greater and faster innovation for the benefit of mobile users and everyone in the industry.

In 2008 we had the first Android-based device which is the G1 from HTC, but a highest number of Android devices will be registered certainly in 2009 with  the new members Asus, Garmin, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, in addition to the previous Handset Manufacturers Members such as HTC, Samsung, and others.

Probably the first Android handset coming in 2009 is the KOGAN AGORA, the aussie Android-based smartphone which will be available in two edition the first $299 (high-speed 3G, 2.5″ touchscreen, web browsing), and the second $399 (extra : wi-fi, GPS, 2.0MP camera).

In 2009 also at OHM you will read more coverage on Android-based handsets, interviews with many members of the OHA, in addition to Android software providers. So what do you think, will 2009 be the year of Android ?

One of the missing feature on Android is probably the office suite solution, and I think that many mobile software providers are already working to provide the best office suite solution for Android devices. The first have just been announced today by Dataviz.

DataViz, a long time provider of mobile software applications that enable document access and mobile email has announced that they will be developing Documents To Go and RoadSync for Android in 2009.With over 10 years of experience in the mobile market developing and marketing solutions for Palm OS, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Java, Linux and BlackBerry, DataViz will be expanding their solutions to the growing Android market.

Their Documents To Go mobile office suite provides users with the ability to view, edit and create Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files as well as view PDF files.  The RoadSync application syncs with Outlook email, calendar, contacts and tasks using the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol.  No word yet on exactly what features if not all will be supported with Android.

If you wish to be notified on availability, news updates or provide feedback please visit www.dataviz.com/android