Android Setback

Ever since T-Mobile rolled out Google's first Android-based smart phone, tech geeks everywhere have been waiting for the next electronics company to jump on board. After all, you can't challenge the iPhone and the BlackBerry with just one carrier and phone manufacturer. Last December, the mobile-phone world buzzed with rumors that Samsung was planning to introduce a new Android phone at the Barcelona Mobile World Conference trade show next week, giving Google another iron in the fire. But now, according to the Guardian, that plan is dead in the water.

Reporter Richard Wray writers that Samsung won't release a prototype of the new Google phone next week, after all. Instead, says Samsung Mobile Device Marketing Director Younghee Lee, the company has pushed back its plans to release an Android phone until the second half of this year. In addition, the company still hasn't settled on a phone carrier.

This isn't exactly the best news for Android, and it's not the first cloud on the horizon. Although struggling phone company Motorola is scheduled to release its own Android phone soon, Reuters reports that industry analysts think Android will hardly solve the company's problems, and its mobile-phone division is deeply crippled. Nonetheless, Android still has a lot of partners lined up, including Toshiba and Sony Ericsson. Let's just say the jury's still out on whether Android will cast a shadow over its predecessors.