I'm telling you straight up before I get to the "reporting" that this
is a classic example of me commenting on someone else's story with no
personal first-hand knowledge of the situation.  I've yet to use an
Android-powered phone, yet to see the HTC G1, HTC Dream, or any other
Android-based phone in person, and have no idea what's actually going
on behind the scenes.  I'm mostly just passing this info and opinion
along to you, so do with it what you will.  I want everybody to win!  I
promise.

Silicon Valley Insider's Henry Blodget published a piece today under the scathing banner, "Google's Android GPhone Already a Flop."
Blodget's "article" basically serves as a glorified link to Friday's
Financial Times piece in which Richard Waters quotes a number of
analysts and critics who rake Android over the coals for everything
from "not being an iPhone" to "being an iPhone ... not!"  Okay, I'm
actually paraphrasing, not quoting there, but in all seriousness the
article is basically a quote list from a bunch of folks who think
Google should be more like Apple.  

The criticisms of Android range from "It ain't no iPhone" (that time I was actually quoting) to
?The best experiences out there today are 'vertical? experiences, where
the hardware and software come from the same company,?(e.g. Apple) to "Google's lack of clear consumer focus, in marked contrast to Apple,
whose iPhone was designed and marketed to meet very specific needs."

Seriously, these analyst guys have some big-time Steve Jobs envy, no?

The one interesting bit of news I gleamed from my reading came near the beginning of the FT.com piece:  The first phones based on Android are to be launched next month by
T-Mobile, which is pushing on with plans to launch a number of handsets
from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC next month, according to one person
with knowledge of its plans.

"Phones" as in more than one? Sounds like more fuel for the fire if you believe that the HTC "Dream" and "G1" are actually two different devices, and that the phone that's been leaked in spy photos and blurry videos across the Web is actually a dummy meant to lower expectations in preparation for a sleeker, shinier, and altogether different Android-powered device being readied by HTC and T-Mobile for launch sometime this or next month.

For whatever it's worth, bear in mind that former PhoneScoop Editor Eric Lin now heads up HTC's worldwide online marketing efforts.  He's a smart guy, and if anyone knows about the impact blogs can have on building buzz around forthcoming devices, you know it's him.