Verizon’s on board with its first Android device in the next couple of weeks, and Eric Schmidt slathered praise all over Verizon like barbecue sauce on a chicken wing. I quote: “It’s absolutely a fact that Verizon’s data network is the best in the US by far, and I’m not talking ten percent here, I’m talking about many multiples.”

Now the rumors are flying that AT&T is coming out with its first Android device, and not just any device, but the Dell Dork Phone I (aka the Mini 3i) that I talked about a few weeks ago. To be honest, my interest in that was only half-hearted and if I don’t get my hands on one, it’s going to lose out to something much more concrete like the freakin’ 800 MHz Samsung Moment.

What are we looking at, then?

Pretty much what we all expected, right? It’s not world domination or anything, but Android this week stepped onto the threshold of being a viable, multi-handset option on all carriers.

Meanwhile, Gartner is predicting that Android will have a market share only exceeded by Symbian by 2012. 14.5% or roughly 72 million phones per year. That would cut Symbian down to 39% and iPhone down to 13%, Blackberry would stay at 12.8% and Windows Mobile to 12.5%.

From inception to the number 2 in the world in four years.

Let’s see how long it took Symbian…well, its roots go back pretty damn far. Let’s start at the Psion Series 5 EPOC 32 days in 1997, which turned into Symbian in 1998. It wasn’t until 2004 that it began moving like crazy. So roughly six years from birth to the top?

So maybe 2014 for Android to take the #1 spot? Heh…maybe, but it’s late and I have a headache.