With the whole mobile industry gearing up for MWC 09 next week it is inevitable the new Android models will be seeking carrier relationships across the board. The G1 has performed well for T-Mobile and rumours of its successor, the G2 - perhaps again to be revealed in Barcelona - has not gone unnoticed by the other carriers. All these new handsets from the likes of Asus, Motorola and Dell will need someone to hook them up to their customers, and there's absolutely no monopoly forcing all Android handsets to be carried by T-Mobile.

O2 however is different in that it currently has the exclusive deal with the iPhone in several countries, including the UK. Will it be using Android as a stick to beat Apple with? How will Apple react to this extra competition - could it even mean it too will expand its carrier relationships? And let's not forget that Telefonica is the world's 3rd largest carrier with 220 million subscribers. A Qualcomm Exec recently anticipated Android could "drive smartphones into the mass market once they become priced under $200". With a platform on Telefonica's scale, maybe this is the trigger needed to make it so.

The original story is here, with apologies to non-German readers.