Google Is Paying Carriers and Phone Makers to Adopt Android

So Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mo are all striking deals to push Google's fragmented platform. Google gets a healthy ad cut while they scramble to push a Droid over a Nexus One over a Hero (incredibly, none of which run the same version of the OS right now and all of which are piles of crap.) Of course, none of that ad money goes to covering the ETF or lowering the handset cost or keeping the handsets up to date or lowering the service cost....

Meanwhile, AT&T has the iPhone which gets continued development and support. I'm pretty sure AT&T is laughing all the way to the bank. I'm willing to bet Verizon, knowing the long-term outlook on Android would drop every pathetic smartphone they sell to be in AT&T's shoes.

Palm is in deep crap, too. Silly them for thinking engineering one of the best smartphone OS's would lead to carriers begging for the phone. Money talks.