The browser already included in Android and Chrome both use WebKit, which is an open source web browser engine. So there’s already some similarity between the two.

Android, as a platform for mobile development and an operating system, falls under the auspices of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), which is mostly composed of major mobile telephony, semiconductoer, and mobile handset players, in addition to Google, of course.

The OHA asserts Android will make it easier and less costly to develop applications for mobile phones—by removing the often complicated pre-qualification regimens and hoops mobile operators make developers jump through today—while giving these wireless carriers and phone manufacturers a great deal more flexibility in the devices the former supports and the latter creates.

In theory, all of this (more freedom, less cost, greater flexibility) should be experienced by consumers as a result of Android as well. How? By making more advanced cell phones, smartphones and (even) applications cheaper to buy and easier to use, and giving consumers a greater say in the mobile handset they choose to buy and use on their carrier's wireless network.

The first Android smartphone could arrive before the end of the year.