When Google last year unveiled Android, its open-source mobile phone platform, I published an article titled, Android vs. iPhone: Will the Google Phone Be an iPhone Killer?

At the time, before iPhone 2.0, it looked like Android had a good shot at taking down the iPhone, for several reasons:

• Android phones were set to be priced around $200, while the iPhone at the time was priced at a minimum of $400 (for the 4GB model).
• Because Android is open-source, developers can freely create applications for the phones. When I wrote my article last November, Apple had not yet released a software development kit for the iPhone, so any third-party applications on iPhone were unauthorized.
• Apple signed a contract with AT&T binding the iPhone in the United States to the wireless company for five years, while Google’s Android phones will be built by various manufacturers and supported by many carriers.

Add to that the fact that when I wrote the article, there was still no mention of 3G data speeds or GPS being on the iPhone.

iPhone 2.0: A lot’s changed in half a year

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Google last week unveiled Android, an extremely versatile open-source mobile phone platform that will be freely available to all handset makers under what CEO Eric Schmidt calls “one of the most liberal licenses in the world.” Will Android change the mobile landscape as much as iPhone did, and if so, how will iPhone suffer — or benefit — because of it?

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Glenn Lurie, a leader in the iPhone project at AT&T who is actually using his own iPhone before the device’s debut, said in an interview that “There are other things — you have the widgets, some of the Google applications that are coming — there are just so many things here that the price will not be an issue,” leading many to believe that Google Maps won’t be the only Google widget on the iPhone.

Might this be evidence that Apple is “pulling their classic under-promise and over-deliver move in a bid to capture a larger share of the mobile phone market,” asks ZDNet’s Jason D. O’Grady.

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I logged into my personalized Google page today and noticed the logo said iGoogle. Has Apple’s iObsession gotten to Google now, too?

Not too relevant to the iPhone, I know, but I thought some of you might appreciate the humor.