Google's Android delayed again

If Google wants to stop Apple's inexorable crushing of the hip, high-end cell phone market, it had better get on the stick: Google's highly-touted Android cellular operating system has hit more snags and is now delayed at least until the fourth quarter of the year. And most observers (including myself) are highly skeptical we'll see any devices before 2009, missing the crucial holiday season entirely.

Google had previously said it would have phones out "later this year" but is now acknowledging a larger delay. The issue is likely not just one of Google's inexperience developing for the cell phone market, but one of cooperation: Android isn't just a Google project but a product created by an alliance of over 30 partners, many of which are arch-rivals in the business world and some of which are suffering terribly in the current economic climate. How do you get this crew to cooperate on a large-scale development project? Very slowly, it seems.

According to the Wall Street Journal, some of the snags include issues like branding: Carriers like Sprint would like to slap together their own version of Android while using the underlying code base, which poses problems in the open source world. Google also wants to play globally, but translating Android into Chinese might not be quite as easy at it sounds.

In other words: Business as usual.

As Apple preps to deliver iPhone 3G in a couple of weeks, the delay is terrible timing for Android, which targets exactly the same sophisticated audience that the iPhone does. As the delays pile up, Apple's lead can't help but grow, and given the two-year lock-in that comes with new cell phone purchases, it becomes increasingly harder to see Google making a significant dent in this market.

Power through it, fellas.