Google: Android Phones Coming This Year

Updated from 1:37 p.m.

Google(GOOG Quote) says it will have an Android-powered phone on the market in 2008, rebutting a source's claims to the contrary.

According to a source familiar with the situation, although a large number of people are hard at work on the Gphone and the open-source operating system/platform for mobile devices (Android) the actual Gphone will not be ready for release this year.

That would mean that Apple's(AAPL Quote) second-generation iPhone, and the ever-growing list of about-to-be-released handsets (like the Garmin(GRMN Quote) nuviphone, Research In Motion(RIMM Quote) Blackberry Bold and Thunder, Sprint/Samsung Instinct and SonyEricsson Xperia) will now have a huge head-start over the Gphone. ...