Android, in my opinion, is one of the leading lights for a mobile Internet operating system. Along with Moblin, WM7 and the iPhone OS, it’s in a race to become the de-facto choice and anyone could win. Apple has a great head start and will be happy to hear that Google’s Android OS wont arrive on handsets until the 4th Quarter, months behind the original planned dates. Almost all of the problems appear to be because carriers want their own apps and their own branding. They’re being old and stubborn again. As Om Malick says, "I think this is why Jobs was smart in being tyrannical and ignoring carrier requests when it came to software."

The delays will also help Microsoft and Intel. More delays means more chance that WM7 details will leak and that Intels MID partners, who are mostly notebook OEMs and not carriers, have a chance to polish up their own Moblin-based mobile Internet offerings and push them out into Europe where devices can more easily be sold without carrier branding or approval.

Handset subsidies are nice but this carrier grooming process is becoming a real drag.