While it is the handset vendors that put on the OS, it is the carriers that decide what OS phones they will buy, and thus which will reach mass markets. Android needed a big carrier (in any given market) to make it significant. It seemed likely Android would persevere, but not certain. Now it’s a certainty.

Verizon, I might add, is the tightest screw to ever walk a turn on an SS7 network. They are not known for openness. However, the competitive pressure of Apple-ATT has forced them to work outside their comfort zone. I love real competition! While the tight RIM-VZW relationship has offered some compelling enterprise smartphones, VZW is eating it in the rapidly growing consumer smartphone market. ATT is smart-pwning them with the iPhone. So where can VZW turn? They need something that will appeal to consumers, have a touch-based interface, powerful UI, be of modern architecture… The choices are WebOS, Symbian, WinMo, Linux, Blackberry, or Android.

Symbian is too legacy-driven and too euro for VZW; WeOS lacks vendor support, is too much of a gamble and Sprint is already all over it (VZW will do it, but not bet the farm); WinMo is still caught in 2003, Linux has many variants each lacking scale, and Android has the backing of major content brands, mass developer support, proven success, and a wide range of handset vendors backing it. Hmmm…which to choose.

If there had been ANY other decent choice, you wouldn’t have seen Schmidt and McAdam sharing a stage. Some of the other comments are right, the relationship will be tough. Google will force VZW open with a crowbar, much as Apple has done to AT&T. The carrier will lose control of apps. Lose control of the store. Lose control of the kinds of services that run on their network. They will cry, they will rally, they will rant. But they will also see increased sales, increased data traffic, increased usage of their device, increased fixed-mobile substitution, and happier consumers. Oh, increased revenues…does that matter? It’s the “rising tide floats all boats” argument.

So, while this tie-up will hurt them culturally, it will help them financially. It will drag them kicking and screaming into the open era — where they will like what they see. In a world where carriers are just a pipe, they can still be a smart pipe. And what’s more, the carrier with the best pipes has an advantage.

Handsets produced going forward are not going to be any different than Android handsets released prior. This is just a good excuse for the two companies to get on the stage together and make nice.

Yup.