There’s an article at the NYTimes on the three flavors of Android. The first type of phone doesn’t run any Google applications and hence won’t include the Android Market. Google has no way of knowing how many such phones are in development. The majority of phones Google knows about (12 to 14 phones this year) will be of the second type “to include on the phone Google applications” but no mention is made whether this includes the Android Market or whether this is optional. The third type of phone ( 5 to 6 this year) must include an uncensored Android Market.

I believe the success of Android partly depends on users having access to the Android Market. If handset OEMs or carriers choose to run their own application stores then there’s going to be consumer and developer confusion and disappointment.