Google's AndroidOS, the development and operating platform for smartphones, is stated to be one of the most powerful platforms in the mobile market. The AndroidOS is built on the Linux platform and allows third-party developers to create mobile applications on top of the Java framework.

Some wireless carriers and mobile device makers such as T-Mobile, HTC, and Motorola are accepting this open platform with open arms while others such as Verizon and AT&T are shying away from it as they feel it will hurt their proprietary platforms.

One Google high-up is confirming the threat Android is going to be to one of the largest selling mobile platforms on the market today, Apple's iPhone. Rich Miner, Google's group manager for mobile platforms, stated after a presentation he gave at the Emerging Communications Conference that devices utilizing the Android platform will be in good position to outsell the iPhone.

Google and its Android platform are leading the Open Handset Alliance with some of the biggest names in the mobile industry such as Intel, NVIDIA, and Texas Instruments among the semiconductor crowd; T-Mobile, Sprint, and Japan's NTT DoCoMo in the mobile operator arena; and HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung, and Motorola on the handset manufacturer scene. The purpose of this forum is to promote openness in the mobile community through third-party software development without boundaries that proprietary platforms have set.

With the number of members within this alliance and the participation of four of the major handset makers, the Open Handset Alliance could give Apple and other mobile operating systems such as Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Nokia's Symbian OS a run for their money if Android takes off.

"Once you have devices out there from Motorola, HTC, Samsung, and so on, there's a much larger potential market on Android than for the iPhone," said Miner who then went on to state, "There's a single manufacturer, it's targeted at a particular demographic, and it falls far short of the 1 billion mobile phones sold every year worldwide."

Additionally, Miner remarked that with the launch of the Android SDK, "There are things I saw people doing with the first version of the Android SDK that it seems like you can't do with the iPhone at least at the moment."

Miner, however, does not try to lure consumers away from those proprietary platforms, but goes on to present the opportunities and potential out there for developers of the various mobile platforms. "[If I were a developer] I'd certainly be looking at the iPhone, and if you believe there will be lots of Android phones out there, as we do, I'd be developing for both platforms."