Verizon joins Google Open Handset Alliance

Verizon joins Google's Open Handset Alliance. Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam announced that the company will start supporting Android.

When Google announced its Android mobile operating system platform about a month ago, the web's largest search provider had lined up an impressive array of partners right from the start.

Its goal: to remove all the "walled garden" roadblocks from mostly American wireless companies to allow any customer to use any phone on any network by guaranteeing cross-carrier compatibility. Now, technically, the two actual radio standards in use among wireless companies in the U.S. will need addressing, but that comes later.

The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a business group formed of 30+ members including Google, Motorola, HTC, T-Mobile, Qualcomm and Sprint Nextel, whose goal is to develop services for mobile devices.