NTT DoCoMo to launch Android handset in 2009

Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo has revealed that it'll launch its first Android handset next year. Well, probably.

"As we are allied with Google, we are considering a commercial mobile device together," a spokesperson told AFP.

Assuming rival operators KDDI and Softbank don't jump in first, this would be the first Android phone to be released in Japan.

It's been suggested that South Korean operator KT Freetel may also be involved, raising the prospect of the handset also going on sale in that country.

A Japanese Android handset would clearly be big news for games developers both western firms already making Android games, and Japanese companies yet to take the plunge.

We wonder if DoCoMo will look to take its Chokkan range of motion-sensing mobile games to Android, too. Watch this space.