What is the common denominator for references to North Korea, porn, and frozen yogurt? Operating platforms, of course.

The battle between Steve Jobs and his Apple empire vs. Google and their open source platform for smartphones, titled Android, is only increasing. Android 2.2, the newest version of the operating system, codenamed Froyo after the yummy frozen yogurt treat, is due out soon.

A vice president of Google's engineering division, Andy Rubin, was recently interviewed by the New York Times about Google's adoption of Android  as the operating system for smartphones and other mobile devices. Google is currently behind Apple in the smartphone market – nine percent of smartphones run Android, according to Comscore. However, Rubin was convinced that that Android phones will one day outnumber BlackBerrys and iPhones. 'I don't know when it might be, but I'm confident it will happen. Open usually wins."

What about that 'open' idea anyway? Android 2.2 will support Adobe's Flash 10.1. Flash is considered an open interface, allowing mobile phone users to access a wide range of internet sites and online games. Apple banned such interface for the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad. In a colorfully-worded letter, Jobs trashed Android and Flash. He latter commented "Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone."

Apple, on the other hand, does not use this open interface. Rubin compared such a closed interface  to totalitarian governments which make the choices for their citizens. "I just don't want to live in North Korea," Ruben added.

Along with the compatibility with Flash, Android 2.2 reports to bring faster apps, usage of less RAM, and may enable FM radio on handsets. With Android phones allowing users to access a multitude of free online games and apps, could this spell trouble for Apple's app store which charges a fee for some games? 

Many questions arise from the controversy shrouding Flash and Android, however us mobile users best sit back out of the crossfire, and let the Jobs and the rest of the big boys duke it out.