"Outside the US, it it just a matter of time before Symbian and other platforms join PalmOS as interesting historical tidbits."

Ever seen some sales figures? Symbian currently is the OS on around 50% of all 'phones sold (and 40% of all smart phones) around the world. Thats more than the nearest 4 competitors combined (and that includes apple).

The US market is very limited and isolated in some senses because US patent laws restrict what can be sold in the US. In the free world we have the ability to buy 'phones which offer equivalent functionality and not pick 'phones based on who has the most patents.

My problem with the G1 is it just "feel" right. I have a G1 and a Sony Ericsson c702 and I find I use the c702 all the time, and the G1 only sees the light of day when someone asks me what it's like.

It's bulky, there no virtual keyboard so you need to pop the keyboard to type anything, it's camera is pretty poor, and Android is sluggish on it (sometimes I need to tap two or three times to get a response to something, and I know the phone has detected the press because the icon flashes).

But who knows, but the time Android is right for the prime time, we may all have bought Nokias :) :) :)

"Right now this pretty much means most of the Java-based phones on the market"...

If you think it's limited to J2ME 'phones then have a look at AndAppStore.com who've been offering Android apps for months and aren't Google affiliated in any way.

AndAppStore.com for one, and their client can be bundled with any distro so why would you want to create another one?