Reuters.com reportsfFourteen of the world's largest mobile phone and chip makers, including Sony Ericsson, Vodafone Group (VOD) and ARM Holdings (ARM), joined the Open Handset Alliance on Tuesday to support the Android mobile device platform developed by Google.
The new members' pledge to back the Android software is a significant feat for Google in the mobile phone industry, as its T-Mobile G1 phone takes on rival Apple's (AAPL) popular iPhone 3G.
But despite the big-name additions to the Open Handset Alliance, analysts say what matters is whether the new members introduce more Android-supported smartphones in 2009 and 2010 to edge out competitors who also use open-source Linux software for mobile phones, such as Nokia-owned smartphone software maker Symbian.