Google's call [forbes]

The long-awaited Googlephone is here--sort of. An actual hold-in-your-hand phone is six to 12 months away. Instead, all the hoopla and announcements today are about unveiling tools for building future phones.

The list of companies that have signed up for the Open Handset Alliance says a lot about the Google-led phone effort: There are few market leaders but a lot of companies hoping to challenge the top dogs. Many of the software companies are little known outside their industry niche. They clearly hope that the Google-led effort will blow away the barriers to entering the mobile-phone business and give them a chance to build prosperous businesses in the emerging market for Internet-friendly phones.