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The last domino has fallen: AT&T has announced that they will offer Android handsets on their network. The last of the major US carriers to sign on with the open-source Google OS devices, AT&T plans five Android-based handsets built by Motorola and HTC this year. Of course, AT&T is the home of the iPhone. Along with the Android, AT&T announced at CES that they’ll also be offering a couple Palm OS devices as well as adding support for the Palm, Android, Windows Mobile and Nokia app stores. Perhaps wisely, AT&T didn’t bring up the iPhone, though they continue to enjoy an exclusive sale agreement—which apparently wasn’t reciprocal. (Will it be renewed?) This move by AT&T may be a precursor to signing on with the agreement to sell plans for Google’s new Nexus One . Like most other smartphones, the Nexus One is pretty cool, and Google selling an unlocked version is pretty cool, too—but the price tag (without carrier subsidies and rebates) will effectively keep all but the most tech-covetous shoppers from the Nexus (with the iPhone running as little as $200 vs. the Nexus’s $530). AT&T will also be adding more cell sites and connections to improve their network, which has been facing a lot of complaints of dropped calls and texts and sluggish download times. (Not to mention the 3G map comparison Verizon’s latest ad campaign harps on.) What do you think? Will this help AT&T or Google more in the long run?

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Android Taking over AT&T

Google is the master of creating demand, and it started with a single tweet: Since then, technology and gadget bloggers have been in a frenzy not seen by me since the iPhone was first announced. I’m not about to get into the many details of Google’s Nexus One phone–I’m going to take a different angle, below–but you can read all about the unlocked Android phone, here , here , and here . Oh, and here’s what it looks like: So, what’s my take on this? The media frenzy! OMG! I don’t know how much Motorola and Verizon spent trying to hype up the launch of the recent Droid phone, but that publicity doesn’t compare to what Google has accomplished over the weekend. How smart was Google? It handed out free phones to Google employees, either didn’t tell them to keep quiet about it, or actively encouraged the discussions, and let the details slowly leak out. All weekend long, I’ve seen post, after article, after post hit the web. Right about now, everyone that doesn’t own an iPhone is currently drooling over becoming a Google Nexus owner–and there are probably a few iPhone owners feeling the same way too! Perhaps Google has realized that it’s just not that good at artificially creating excitement with its own advertising . The company became the world’s #1 search engine via word of mouth. Could it own the world’s #1 cell phone the same way?

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Google’s Nexus One Phone; Like Shooting Media Fish in a Barrel

While Apple is making waves about the latest and greatest gadgets they are rolling out to the waiting public Google has made a little announcement of its own: It’s a phone! The word on TheStreet.com is that Google is planning on entering the hardware arena with the new Android offerings. It seems as if the expansion / experimentation of Google isn’t likely to end any time soon is it? Beore we go any further just remember that this a rumor so that has to be taken into consideration. RIght after you forget that fact though you can say whatever you want. In what is likely to be seen as disruptive to the wireless status quo, Google is working with a smartphone manufacturer to have a Google-branded phone available this year through retailers and not through telcos, according to Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar, who has talked to Google’s design partners about the plan. It is likely that this rumor will set off a firestorm of pundit poison toward Google and their apparent desire to have everyone’s cake and eat it all as well as belch on the rest of us. I say so what? As long as Google is ready to put something on the market that is competitive and it’s not a hack job (which is unlikely but always possible) then bring it on! TheStreet.com continues If talk of the Google phone plan is true, the entrance of an unlocked, low-cost, Web-friendly touchscreen device will probably undercut other Android phone efforts by players like Motorola, Samsung and Dell. Motorola’s entire turnaround strategy is based on the Android operating system. The company is expected to announce a ultra-thin Droid phone at Verizon next month. Both Verizon and Motorola expect the Sholes/Droid phone to be a significant challenger to Apple’s iPhone. So at this point this is just talk so caveat readertor (I know that is not a real phrase but saying “Let the reader beware was kinda boring). Makes sense though that Google would take this direction. It doesn’t come without its risks though. First, Google would be taking aim at the phone service providers like Verizon that have worked on getting the Android system to the point that ads now appear every 5 seconds during any sporting event. But Google has never been shy about making sure search is still king of the hill If Google goes through with the plan, it would point to how eager the Internet ad giant is to get Android in as many hands as possible so it can extend its search business beyond desktop computers to mobile devices. Going around phone companies to reach consumers is a bold move, but Google no doubt sees the wireless Internet market as a land-grab race with Apple, Nokia and Microsoft So let’s just remember that this is one of those rumors that was started by an analyst who has an inside track to someone but also has an agenda to make a name for him or herself. So if there is no Google Android phone in your stocking for Christmas don’t be disappointed. It’ll happen soon enough. It’s Google, remember?

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Google to Offer Branded Android Phone?