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.

Get ready for a flood of tablets to hit the market as tech companies try to benefit from the glow of Apple's (AAPL) iPad. And one of the first entrants is Samsung Electronics. This week, the company launched its Galaxy Tab.

And yes, the device runs on Google's (GOOG) mobile operating system, Android (version 2.2). The screen comes to 7-inches and you can access the Net via a cell phone connection (and you can make calls as well). There is also storage capacity of 16GB. Interestingly enough, the Galaxy has a front and rear camera, something the iPad does not have.

When Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) stunned the consumer electronics and mobile market back in April by announcing that it would buy handheld device pioneer Palm for $1.5 billion, many jumped in to say that HP was just playing catch-up to Dell (DELL), which has its own mobile device strategy, and various hardware and mobile PC makers. After all, HP lacked a cohesive mobile and tablet computer product line and strategy -- two areas that are red-hot in the consumer sector. Was this a smart move for HP?

Even though the consumer electronics industry wants to have some company -- any company deliver an Apple (AAPL) iPhone killer, that company won't be Google (GOOG). Google, on the other hand, has become Apple's Microsoft (MSFT) from the late 1980s. What's that, you say?

Microsoft took the personal computer market by storm by not tightly controlling every piece of hardware and software that was used with its now-ubiquitous Windows operating system. Apple, on the other hard, guaranteed a solid user experience by tying its excellently-designed hardware with only its own operating system software. It's been said that Microsoft, more than any other company, enabled the PC era by not controlling the hardware it's software rode on top of. Google has the same goal in the mobile space, which is where the future of consumer computing is headed.

Google Inc. (GOOG) has been on a mobile tear recently with its Android mobile operating system, and the Android Market may become a more potent competitor to Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) App Store if a new "business market" is introduced. Whereas most of Apple's App Store for the iPhone is filled with consumer-level applications, Google may have ambitions to take its Android platform higher than Apple's lofty perch here.

Google (GOOG) could be the ultimate slight-of-hand tech company or one that intends to base its entire business model -- forever -- on advertising revenue. Which is it? Hard to say, as the company's moves into the wireless hardware, high-speed Internet and telecommunications industries has many an entrenched company paying close attention. The fact that Google's Android mobile operating system is selling 60,000 Android smartphones a day is nothing to dismiss. What are the company's exact intentions, though?

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.

Here's something many of us thought would never happen: Apple Inc. (AAPL) teaming up with Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) for, well, anything. The mighty Google Inc. (GOOG) is the common enemy. How so? Check out the embedded Google services on the Apple iPhone.

With internet search on mobile devices becoming the soup du jour in tech circles, whoever wins mobile search on the iPhone is due some greatness. So far, Google has been there. With Google's Android mobile operating system becoming more and more of a perceived competitor to the iPhone, Apple probably wants Google off the iPhone. It makes logical sense, and it would not be the first time that Microsoft's has cozied up to Apple.

Google's (GOOG) future ambition: to conquer the mobile ad world just like it has the World Wide Web world.

Although there is much convergence between the two, mobile devices are replacing PCs for much of the world's Internet activity (it's tiny now, but exploding more every year). To that end, Google's Android mobile operating system, which is now taking the world by storm, wants to be the clear leader in mobile Internet and application access.

Apple's (AAPL) iPhone has reinvigorated the wireless handset industry. It was there first (in many ways) and it will be hard for any company without virtually unlimited resources to wrestle the golden crown from Apple. First movers generally don't relinquish their titles.

With Google (GOOG) set to announce the "Nexus One" handset tomorrow based on its own Android mobile operating system, does it want a piece of Apple's action? Is that its goal?

Palm Inc. (PALM) seemed like a company with a solid comeback plan last summer. After more than a year of downward spiraling, the company was on the verge of releasing its hottest product probably ever, the Palm Pre. This was supposed to be the wireless handset that would finally challenge the Apple (AAPL) iPhone with it's slick user interface and svelte design.

Sales of the Pre in recent quarters were indeed decent, although Palm's decision to choose Sprint Nextel (S) as its exclusive launch partner may have dampened things a bit. Although Sprint's network, at this time, fares way better than AT&T's (T) network that is constantly being made fun of, the Pre still didn't slow down iPhone purchases.