Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been touting its Android mobile operating system platform for over a year. Still without a product to showcase its efforts, many are beginning to wonder if Google has classified Android as "vaporware." Even though the company is itself not making a single piece of hardware, a mobile handset is the product the customer will use. So, Google, where is it?

Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G, which admittedly has a few issues, but is still selling like hotcakes, is stealing any thunder Android would have created. T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest mobile operator in the U.S., may have an Android phone on the market sometime in September, according to TMoNews. Still, is it too late for Android to make a huge splash in the mobile pool?



The reported manufacturer of such a phone will be Taiwanese smartphone heavyweight HTC. Reported pricing will be $399 without a contract, or near $150 with a two-year contract. Google may be taking the Apple route, as this Android phone will tightly feature most of Google's consumer services, and you may even need a Google Gmail account to set up service for the Android phone.

Yes, this sounds like Apple's locked-into-the-manufacturer procedure, doesn't it? If T-Mobile uses the Apple iPhone model for requiring an expensive data plan and with spotty 3G service (who knew?), then the Android phone won't make a splash, but a trickle. Many of us are looking to Google to provide an excellent mobile operating system that is open, flexible and robust. Perhaps we may be waiting a bit longer -- and so will Google shareholders.