Will Android make scrap metal
of carriers?

Next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, British chip designer ARM will unveil a prototype mobile phone based on Google's Android, Reuters reports.

T-Mobile and Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp. are also expected to debut Android phones in 2008. Other carriers in the Google Open Handset Alliance include China Mobile, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Telefonica.

Perhaps out of concern that the future, led by Android, would leave them behind, both Verizon and AT&T committed to open their networks this year or next.

Since Microsoft's bid for Yahoo last week, Google's growth potential in communications is gleaning closer scrutiny by analysts and publishers alike. Forbes believes the merger may yield a mobile mogul to contend with both the Android platform and the iPhone.

Wired also reports rumors that Google may have purchased digital black book firm Plaxo for $200 million on the quiet.