The reigning king of the mobile handsets (left) sees little threat in Motorola's latest red-eyed mobile monster.

Last week Motorola announced the upcoming release of its Droid mobile handset. The new handset, for the uninitiated, will feature Google’s Android open mobile operating system and will feature a variety of applications available from the Android Market.

If you think all of this sounds like Apple’s iPhone, you are correct. Motorola and Google are teaming up with Verizon and setting their sites squarely on the iPhone. Verizon provides what is regularly regarded as the best mobile network in the country. Google’s relatively new Android open operating system provides the software. The real surprise, however, comes from Motorola, who developed and manufactures the cutting edge handset. Not only does the Droid offer an iPhone-esqe touch screen, but also a full, slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Motorola is marketing the Droid with a series of “iDon’t” ads that highlight the iPhone’s technological deficiencies.

Since Android is still coming out of the gate, so to speak, developers are still working on applications for mobile handsets. Android’s approximately 10,200 apps pale in comparison to the iPhone’s 85,000. The “open” nature of Android and Google’s plan to have the OS on at least 18 phones by the end of the year can begin the process of putting the system in the hands of a larger segment of mobile phone users and create a venue for Android apps that is more appealing to marketers than the heralded iPhone.

Historically, Apple’s closed development and distribution system has put the company at a disadvantage in terms of market share. Even the seemingly omnipresent iPhone has only 14 percent share of the mobile phone market. When (or if) the Android mobile OS can be had on a wide variety of handsets, application developers will have a much broader audience than that of the iPhone. Marketers, when faced with the question of creating an application for one mobile phone or for many mobile phones with a broader demographic reach, will eventually turn their efforts to Android. I see a time when Android apps will become an primary component of any integrated marketing communications mix hoping to utilize mobile technology.

Ironically, the handsets themselves will not be the deciding factor in the handset war; the service providers will be. IPhone has been linked to AT&T since its beginning and, with Verizon’s agreement to carry Android, it will continue this relationship for the near future. Verizon has no reason to pursue the iPhone. T-Mobile already has Android phones and more will surely come. The combined weight of these service providers (and probably Sprint also) will drive developers to eclipse the number of iPhone applications and push Google to create a desirable user experience.

Apple should be happy with its share of the mobile phone market (it had zero only a few years ago), but that share will not grow with the release of stiff new competition like Droid and the potential it brings with it.