Analysts expect Android sales to go up in the fourth quarter of this year. Strategy Analytics estimates about 10.5 million smartphones to be sold in the U.S. during that period. From those, 400,000 are expected to be G1 handsets from T-Mobile.

Chris Ambrosia, Executive Director of Strategy Analytics says:

Google has the brand power in the USA to make a big impact at launch. The main issue will be operator subsidies. As seen with the iPhone and smart devices in general, retail prices need to be well below $200 to be competitive. Longer-term success will, of course, rest on Android vendor ability to create designs with wow factor and an intuitive user-interface.

Android’s market share might go even higher. T-Mobile announced earlier it will have from 600,000 to 700,000 ready to be sold once the G1 starts selling. And let’s not forget the Christmas season will pump all sales up.

Tags: Android, G1, Google, Google, HTC, Market share, T-Mobile, T-Mobile