Consumers across the United States have been clamoring for Apple's slick smartphone to find its way to "America's most reliable network" for the past three years. Well, the wait is over; the Verizon iPhone is no longer rumor, and on February 10th Verizon customers will finally be able to get their hands on one. For the largest mobile network in America to now be offering one of the most influential and popular phones on the planet is big news. It is great for those iPhone lovers who complain of AT&T's subpar service and for loyal Verizon customers who have admired the iPhone from afar, but what about for the iPhone's biggest rival, Google's Android? The competition just got real.A Little Competitive HistoryIt is arguably thanks to Verizon's amount of subscribers and its once relatively weak phone line-up that Android was able to gain some major momentum. In fact, before Verizon launched their Droid ad campaign in the latter half of 2009, Android was still a very young mobi le platform with a very small following: it made up less than two percent of the total mobile market. Compared to the iPhone's solid 11 percent at the time, Android was just a blip on the iPhone's radar. Motorola's Droid accompanied by several other solid Android phones would help bring Android's numbers up to a respectable ten percent of the market in just a few months' time.People who wanted the "most reliable" network settled with Android devices as alternatives to the iPhonesome learning to love Google's open source system provided over Apple's proprietary system. Either way, thanks to Apple's excellent marketing efforts, the iPhone continues to linger in the back of many smartphone owners' minds. Now that Verizon will be offering the iPhone, it is only natural to wonder how Apple's flagship device might affect Android as a mobile system and the phone manufacturers that support it.Android Needs a Game PlanWithout question, the launch of the Verizon iPhone will be a major event for the wireless carrier and the mobile industry itself. It also presents a new hurdle for Androidwhich, according to recent industry reports, has captured a whopping 26 percent of the mobile market, earning it second place just behind RIM's Blackberry. With the threat of the Verizon iPhone fast approaching, Google and its partners will have to step up their game in order to keep the attention of smartphone users in America. Here is how they will do it:The Consumer Electronics Show of 2011 (CES 2011) has come and gone, but if there is one thing to learn from CES it is that Android is everywhere. Whether it is through outright partnerships with Google or by their own accord, mobile phone and tablet manufacturers are choosing Android as their mobile operating system of choice. Everyone is developing something for Android. Google needs to get Android onto as many devices as possible if they hope to keep Apple from stealing the show.Beyond market saturation, Google needs to release a new version of Android. Thankfully, Google is already deep in development on Android 3.0 Honeycomb, and will see release sometime in the first half of the year. With it comes several promises to change how people interact with their tablet computers, but no one can verify when the mobile phone version of Android will see an update. Google's priority needs to be on expanding their software offering on the phone, improving services, and dealing out some major advertising.Yeah, So Why Should I Care?No matter what happens after the iPhone hits Verizon's network, the winner here will be the consumer. iPhone fans will now have a choice between carriers, but more importantly better substitute devices will make their way to the market. Companies like HTC, Motorola, and Samsung are heavily invested in Android, and they are not about to let Apple steal all the thunder. This means better Android phones, more choices, and improved customer experience across devices.Not only will we see this improvement in Android phones, but other competitors like Windows Phone 7, Blackberry, and Palm will need to offer more enticing products. The benefits of this fierce competition are endless. 2011 will certainly be one of the most interesting years in mobile phones, and we can all thank Apple's iPhone for that./lenovo/thinkpad-r60.htm/hp/pavilion-dv4.htm
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