5:00 PM -- The Wall Journal Street is reporting that there may be some delays in the arrival of devices using the Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)-supported Android open-source operating system for phones. (See ARMed Android.)

How much of a delay, however, is somewhat open to question: T-Mobile International AG is still expected to carry the first Android handsets in the fourth quarter of this year, as it originally said. (See Android Demo and Android in Sight.)

According to the Journal, managing software development and giving the 30-plus partners in the Open Handset Alliance a hand in new features for the OS is taking longer than anticipated. Google maintains that the OS will make its debut in devices in the second half of this year.

Nonetheless, developers, analysts, and vendors have already suggested that the steady take-up of the new code will be much more important than the exact date that it first hits the street. Analysts and developers reckon it could be two years or more before the handsets using the platform become a mass-market proposition. (See Now Wait for Android.)

Talk of delays does possibly give some shine to Verizon Wireless 's decision to introduce LiMo Foundation Linux phones first, however. (See Verizon's LiMo Bean 'Surprise'.) — Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung