(Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA will be the first carrier to offer a mobile phone based on Google Inc's Android software, the New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the company's plans.


The high-end phone, which will be made by the world's top smartphone maker High Tech Computer Corp , is expected to challenge Apple Inc's iPhone as well as other smartphones that run software from Palm Inc , Research in Motion , Microsoft Corp and Nokia Oyj .

The phone is expected to go on sale in the U.S. before Christmas and perhaps as early as October, the paper said.

Neither Google, nor T-Mobile immediately returned calls seeking comment.

Last November, Google introduced its highly anticipated Android software system for designing mobile phone devices, in a move it promised could help the cellphone industry make the Internet work as smoothly on phones as it does on computers.

(Reporting by Tenzin Pema in Bangalore; Editing by Paul Bolding)
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