By Andrew Berg
Monday, June 1, 2009
Some developers who received a new HTC Magic G2 at the Google I/O conference are turning a profit by selling their first-look devices on eBay. “Buy it now” prices this morning on the online auction site for the G2 were in excess of $700.
Google last week handed out 4,000 HTC Magic G2 smartphones to developers in attendance at the annual Google I/O conference. The G2 has not been released on the market yet, but is expected later this year. The new phones came with one month of service from T-Mobile USA and a new version of Google’s Android operating system called “Cupcake.”
Specs released on numerous developer blogs and Web sites were impressive, and early reviews showed a modicum of enthusiasm for the new device. The HTC Magic G2 features a trackball and touchscreen, slimmer form factor than its predecessor, voice search, 5 megapixel camera with video capture, 528-MHz Qualcomm processor, 3G and Wi-Fi and stereo Bluetooth support.
According to AdMob data, Android has enjoyed exceptional adoption, growing an average of 47 percent in the four months since launch.