While both the new G1 from Google and T-Mobile and the Apple iPhone have their pluses, the biggest game-changer is the G1's opennness. It comes down to who has the most choices, both for applications, personalization and network service. And in the end, that winner will probably be an Android-based phone (be that the G1 or not).
While developers struggle with the Apple App Store and getting just the right feature mix (not too bad to tarnish Apple's rep, but still not too good to be tough competition either), they may instead decide to flock to the Android Market, which has more of an anything goes feel to it (and of course, more of a buyer beware feel too).
The real test between the two, though, isn't ready yet. T-Mobile is just the first network service provider to launch an Android phone. Eventually, consumers will have a choice of networks, and that should make the G-phone a lot more attractive. It's too bad that the first iteration is SIM-locked to T-Mobile, but by early next year, several different versions of Android phone/network service will be available. And in the end, the phone with the most choice will win.
