Well, the news has finally come, and the geek community is shedding a tear: Google won't be offering up an Open Source smart-phone. However, it will be offering up an Open Source mobile-OS for somebody else's smart-phone.

In an announcement yesterday, Google's Director of Mobile Platforms Andy Rubin announced there would be no Gphone. What there will be is Andriod, an open-source platform for mobile phones. So far, there's not a lot of details, though Rubin's post indicates the OS should see the market in late 2008.

A number of notable parties have lined up to give Google a high-five, including the partners mentioned by name: Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC, and T-Mobile. Sun's CEO was quick to offer congratulations, but not everybody's happy about the announcement, especially the competition, as evidenced by Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford's remark that they indend to remain the market leader.

Where it will go, nobody knows — but what we do know is that whatever it turns out to be, it'll be really cool.

Read more.