The battle among iPhone carriers is fierce. Apple's (AAPL) iPhone is the prized device. AT&T (T), Verizon's (VZ) rival, has had the an exclusive hold on the iPhone. Verizon has been trying to play catch up. Now that Verizon will have the iPhone, the playing field will change dramatically. Verizon, with about 93 million subscribers, could grab an estimated 10 million new subscribers with the iPhone, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The move is also a big boost for Apple. Apple has been feeling the pressure from Google (GOOG), with its Android system. Android phones passed the iPhone in sales in the second quarter. This move to Verizon will open up a new expanded base for Apple.

When Google's (GOOG) Android mobile operating system started making noise at the end of 2009 with a flurry of handset shipments from multiple wireless carriers, all signs pointed to a healthy 2010 for Google's platform. Indeed, the Motorola Droid from Verizon Wireless and the Nexus One, sold by Google itself, also made a lot of noise recently. But it seems the familiar "iPhone killer" phrase has surfaced once again.

When Google CEO Eric Schmidt told attendees of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in his keynote speech that Google was seeing 60,000 daily shipments of handsets using the Android operating system, that caused a small pause with many folks. At that rate, Google's Android would be seeing shipments of 5.4 million per quarter. By contrast, Apple's (AAPL) iPhone sold 8.7 million units in its most recent quarter. Can Google really get up to sales speed that quickly? It seems to be happening.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) has been in deep trouble for a while now. For some untold reason, the company placed almost all its growth bets on its wireless division but has not produced a hit handset in years. Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) and Samsung Electronics have been producing and selling all kinds of cutting-edge wireless handsets to carriers all over the world. What has Motorola been up to?

It's still producing handsets, but so many of the designs and marketing strategies have been commodities lately. Meanwhile, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has taken the mobile crown with the iPhone, and even Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) has risen from the dead with the new Palm Pre. Motorola was in such bad shape financially that it even suspended the spinoff of its mobile unit last year.