A press release showed up in my INBOX 45 minutes or so ago announcing the Open Handset Alliance and Android, "the first truly open and comprehensive for mobile devices."  The email also invited me to a conference call featuring a who's who of mobile industry heavyweights from Google, Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile's parent company), HTC, Qualcomm, and Motorola.

I'm on hold waiting to get into the call as I write this just after 9am Pacific time Monday morning (hope you all set your clocks back!).  Google has announced the Android platform, an alliance of 30+ mobile-related companies under the Open Handset Alliance moniker, and a developer SDK coming in a week or so.  Android-based handsets are said to be coming during the first half of next year, and HTC has already publicly stated they're committed to at least one Android phone.

Also Google's stock is up about 2% as I write this.  More soon ... Meantime, check out the Official Google Blog for more details.