• Search Engine Land et al., Tuesday, October 6, 2009 1:16 PM

Another day, another Apple-excluding deal that seems destined to shape the future of mobile media. On Monday, Adobe announced partnerships with every major smartphone maker -- except Apple -- to roll out full Flash capabilities to their platforms. Today, Google and Verizon Wireless have teamed up to bring the search giant's Android OS to Verizon Wireless's over 85 million U.S. customers. To date, Google's Android open-source mobile operating system had only been available on T-Mobile -- the smallest of the major carriers.

"The partnership signals a full-frontal assault on Apple's iPhone, which is distributed exclusively through wireless giant AT&T, as well as Research in Motion's BlackBerry mobile device," writes the AOL-owned DailyFinance.com. Furthermore, "The move is further evidence of Google's hunger to move into markets beyond Web search advertising, which has propelled the company to massive profits, but has seen its rate of growth slow considerably recently."

Likewise, Seeking Alpha writes: "Verizon and Google are forming an Android army designed to tackle a common foe ... Android is aiming at the iPhone in terms of applications, usability and the sheer number of devices ... And Verizon is looking to hit AT&T in the chops by wrapping itself in network reliability and open devices."

"I won't call it a 'love triangle,' but Verizon seems to be playing the two companies against each other to a degree," Search Engine Land writes in reference to Google and Apple. To boot, "What's striking about this announcement is that Google and Verizon at one time were trading relatively bitter accusations about the openness of mobile networks in the US, and Google bid against Verizon for 700MHz wireless spectrum."

EWeek notes the timing of the announcement, which it says "seems targeted to hijack attention from today's launch of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.5."

Read the whole story at Search Engine Land et al. »