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I’ve written about the Google Phone, also known as the gPhone, before on billso.com. Mobile phone manufacturers are starting to test prototypes and prepare an initial wave of handsets for FCC certification, with public sales likely late in 2008.

The arguments among software developers are starting to heat up as Apple gets its iPhone SDK (software development kit) ready to ship, while Google continues to revise its Android SDK. Android is Google’s software platform for smartphones.

On one side, AndroidGuys claims that the first generation of Android-powered smartphones will suffer from quality control problems, incomplete software and bugs. That’s probably true. Of course, iPhone had some initial issues right out of the box, too.

On the other side, droidworks counters with an important difference between the two platforms. Apple’s iPhone is a high-end smartphone that is tightly integrated with Mac software and iTunes.

The Android platform is based on open source software, and is highly scalable. We’ll see more Google Phones in India and China than iPhones, simply because Android is much cheaper to license and easier to deploy with inexpensive chipsets. There will be gPhones from a wide variety of manufacturers. Android phones do not require a full QWERTY keyboard or a touch screen, but the software will support these features if they’re included in the hardware.

Apple, on the other hand, will remain the sole brand for the iPhone.

Related articles on billso.com

• 20 April 2008: Mobile phones - the cure for global poverty?
• 5 March 2008: Today’s battle for tomorrow’s mobile phones
• 20 February 2008: Mobile phone platform wars
• 31 January 2008: Applications are coming for the iPhone
• 13 January 2008: The story of the iPhone
• 5 November 2007: There is no Google Phone - but there is an OS
• 12 September 2007: The Google Phone and the iPhone - both looking for software and spectrum
• 27 August 2007: Wireless providers gird themselves for battle