ZTE announced on Thursday it has joined the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) and confirmed plans to launch Android-powered smartphones in the first quarter of 2010.
"ZTE has invested heavily in the research and development of Android smartphones during the last year," said Lin Qiang, general manager of ZTE Smartphones, in a statement.
"With the growing trend and popularity of Android smartphones, ZTE is committed to invest in this innovative platform to meet the market demand," he said.
The company said in reports in November 2009 that it was planning to launch Android-powered handsets in 2010, and was in talks with Vodafone, Verizon Wireless, Orange and T-Mobile to carry its devices.
ZTE becomes the third Chinese equipment supplier to join the OHA alongside phone and PC maker Lenovo and rival kit vendor Huawei.
The latter joined the OHA in December 2008, shortly after revealing plans to develop its own line of smartphones running on Google's mobile operating system (OS). Its first Android device launched on T-Mobile's European network in September 2009, aimed at the lower end of the smartphone market.
ZTE's announcement follows news on Wednesday that Korean phone maker LG plans to launch 20 smartphones based on a range of operating systems including Android, Windows Mobile and Linux.
"Hopes are especially high for Android phones, which, with their user-friendly and open-access OS, are expected to make up more than half of all LG's new smartphone releases," said LG.
LG said it is aiming to ship 140 million handsets in total during 2010, a 20% increase from 2009.
Despite the ongoing uptake of Google's OS by consumers and handset makers alike, not all the recent Android news has been positive.
Google's first Android smartphone, Nexus One, has been plagued by negative publicity within a week of its launch, after customers who bought the handset with a two-year T-Mobile USA plan complained they were struggling to stay connected to the operator's 3G network.
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