Apple's (AAPL) buzz machine continues to crowd-out rivals like Research in Motion (RIMM) and Nokia (NOK). Yet, Google's (GOOG) Android is still able to stand out -- and get more and more traction in the market.

For example, this mobile operating system is seeing a whopping 160,000 activations every day. In fact, this growth helped supercharge HTC's latest quarter, with a 63% spike in revenues to $1.88 billion. At the same time, Motorola (MOT) and Verizon (VZ) are getting ready to launch the Droid X. And yes, this device is getting strong reviews.

There's been a lot of chatter lately about a potential buyout for Palm Inc. (PALM), with various reports pointing to HTC and Lenovo as possible suitors for the parent of the Pre and Pixi smartphones. However, one long-term option trader on Monday placed a confident bet against a white-knight bid for PALM by opening a sizable, out-of-the-money put position on the equity.

Around midday Monday, a block of 6,500 contracts slipped across the tape on PALM's January 2011 2.50 put, which is currently out of the money by about three points. These puts changed hands at the ask price of $0.25, suggesting they were purchased.

If you haven't heard of the GPhone, listen up! That's because TechDaily reports Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is shipping 50,000 of them.

The GPhone is supposedly being made by a company in Taiwan. A UBS analyst has confirmed that Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC will ship about 50,000 cell phones running on a mobile operating system made by Google by the end of 2007.

Benjamin Schachter, one of the analysts who worked on the report, said that these 50,000 Gphones will not be sold to the public -- instead they're going to be available for developers only to understand how the software works. Shachter thinks Google will offer more details at an October 24th analyst event.

I wonder whether an Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) representative will attend that event...

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

If you use a Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Mobile smartphone these days, chances are its is made by Taiwan's High-Tech Computer (HTC). Newer Windows Mobile smartphone units from all major U.S. wireless carriers are made by this Taiwanese company, and millions use them daily to send and receive email, browse the web, send text messages and perform office tasks outside the office. Palm, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: PALM) Treo and the Research in Motion, Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry are other examples of smartphones also used by business people.

Although HTC has seen quarter after quarter of rising sales in recent years, its stock has gone down on the Taipei exchange due to a bunch of new competition from competitors that don't want to see HTC continue taking all the Windows Mobile business with wireless carriers around the world. Are HTC investors worried about the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone invading overseas markets soon? That's probably a little bit of the worry, as in my experience, HTC's Windows Mobile phones and Apple's iPhones are in completely different classes. Why? Because of usability.

Apple has stirred up a storm of conversation that revolves around the iPhone, even though the device is not really targeted to corporate users or business customers (at this time), and that is because it is so functional from a customer perspective that the iPhone is on another playing field. Units like the HTC Mogul, which is carried by wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), have so many buttons and functions that the average business or regular consumer can be easily overwhelmed.

The iPhone? One button, and the handset operates much like a personal computer when you think about it. Most business customers and consumers know how to operate a PC, and the iPhone duplicates that in terms of user interface. Should HTC be worried about the iPhone denting its prospects in the future? Yes, just like all other manufacturers. When the second-generation iPhone begins shipping, the bar will be placed even higher. If Apple can weave in the most-requested business features into future iPhones while still keeping extreme ease-of-use, all 'smartphone' manufacturers should be worried.