The reason for this phone is so that google can ensure that, like the iPhone, future revisions of Android are available to existing handset users. Existing Android phones may or may not get updated depending on the whim of the handset manufacturer, who would much rather sell you a new handset. This was what largely killed Windows Mobile. Google doesn't want to make that mistake. With WinMo,you had to buy a new handset to get a newer version, in most cases. Although HTC are making this phone for google, google will ensure that it tracks newer versions of Android just like Apple makes latest firmware available to all iPhone versions. This will also put some pressure on other handset vendors to update older handsets, hopefully, as new versions of Android come out. At present there's a significant population of handsets still on 1.5 and 1.6 with no clear commitment from the handset vendors as to whether these will be upgradeable to 2.0/2.1, let alone beyond that point.