NEW DELHI -- Bharti Airtel, Asia's leading integrated telecom services provider, and HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today announced the launch of India’s First Android™-powered mobile phone – The HTC Magic.

Airtel has been a frontrunner in bringing innovative and cutting edge technology to its customers. The Android™ powered HTC Magic opens new arena for customers and the developer community to interact in order to bring new applications to Android-based phones. The introduction of the Android™ platform in India is a step in this direction where innovation, development and deployment of mobile applications are encouraged in an ‘open ecosystem’. The Android™ platform not only gives Airtel a faster go to market capability but also helps to provide more rich & varied service offerings for all Airtel users while creating commercial viability for small developers/entrepreneurs.

"Airtel has been at the forefront of innovation and customer delight in the Indian telecom sector. Being the first to bring the Android™ powered HTC Magic to India further underscores our commitment to enrich the communication experience of all Airtel users." said, Raghunath Mandava, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel. Added, “The HTC Magic presents a powerful mobile internet and multimedia experience that should drive the uptake of accessing the internet over mobile amongst Airtel users.”

HTC Magic opens up a whole new mobile experience for all Airtel users. A tablet-style device, with a sleek design and extraordinary compactness for a smartphone, the HTC Magic presents a supreme mobile internet and multimedia experience. Enhanced with Outlook synchronization, Smart Dialler, and an onscreen keyboard with predictive text, the HTC Magic is a true entertainment and communication powerhouse. Also, to begin with, Airtel customers can avail many utility based applications such as Portfolio Manager, Hello Tune Manager, Weather Channel, Mobshare, In-mobile search and City Search on the HTC Magic.

Jack Tong, Vice President, HTC Asia, said, “HTC is proud to partner with Airtel in launching the much-anticipated Android™-powered HTC Magic in India. The HTC Magic opens up a whole new world of possibilities for people to enrich and customise their mobile phone. HTC has always been known for its industry firsts and technology advancements, and is thus a natural partner to Airtel.”

For Airtel customers, HTC Magic also allows free data download of 100 MB per month for a period of 6 months. The HTC Magic will be available at a market price of Rs. 29,990/- at Airtel Relationship Centres and authorised HTC resellers across 17 cities. The cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Cochin, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar and Patna.

Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Mumbai: BHARTIARTL)