iSuppli Senior Analyst Tina Teng believes Motorola is finally in a good position to reinvigorate its brand. "Droid is potentially a game-changer for Motorola," Teng said. "Motorola now is no longer just emphasizing slick form factors, such as it did with its RAZR handset."

Plenty of Options

T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel, which already support Android on their networks, are widely expected to find their own ways to capitalize on the Android market buzz. According to iSuppli, both carriers have plenty of Android options, given that the mobile OS is licensed by seven key smartphone makers, including HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Though Friday's media hoopla was largely focused on Verizon's launch of the Droid, Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi advises not to overlook new offerings from HTC, which has had "some issues with product delays recently on the Windows OS, but on Android things are going well."

"The HTC Hero, which is the first device with the enhanced user interface, called 'Sense,' is a very good product," Milanesi said. "And the HTC Tattoo will also do well over the holiday season, in my opinion."

Still, HTC has been mired in the No. 4 global smartphone sales slot behind Apple for more than a year and competition in their core space is increasing, Milanesi observed. "If they want to grow share, they need to appeal to a wider consumer segment than they have been used to," she said.

A couple of weeks ago, HTC started a big advertising campaign to drive brand awareness, Milanesi observed. "This is really underlying the big push in raising the brand profile, as the time is now right for them to do so," she added.

A Laser Focus

Under the management of co-CEO Sandra Jha, Motorola's mobile division has been able to maintain a laser focus on smartphones -- the hottest segment of the global mobile handset market. This has resulted in the delivery of "compelling smartphone products that are usable and expandable through third-party applications," Teng said.

Google's recent move to add free turn-by-turn navigation to the Android platform will make devices like the Droid even more compelling, Teng observed. "Droid also has capitalized on the trend toward smartphone widgets, which allow users to customize products according to their own personality," she said.

Google's Android platform is only expected to account for 2.4 percent of the total smartphone market this year. But iSuppli predicts the Google-backed mobile platform will enjoy a 118 percent compound annual growth rate through 2013.

The iPhone's recent lackluster debut in China, where media reports indicate that China Unicom only sold about 5,000 units in the first four days of availability, shows that Apple's handset isn't beyond challenge. ISuppli notes that Android enjoys support from eight global wireless operators -- the most among all the seven major operating systems vying for a share of the smartphone market. The platform is also supported by China Mobile, which is a major rival to China Unicom.