Battle of the applications
While I understand the concern of the existing circles, I think it is fair to state that none of them have succeeded in bringing a platform to market that gained substantial support in the industry.
Looking over the list of companies involved in the Open Handset Alliance over at http://androidwiki.com/ it seems clear that the Android platform at least has a chance to achieve such a position. All the monetary support aside, it is clear that ultimately the battle for the handset will be won on the application field - and it is here that Google is going to excel, licensing concerns or not. ($10 million Android developer challenge anyone?)