Google, Verizon Wireless team up to smite Apple's iPhone

Now it's war!

In a direct assault on Apple (AAPL)'s wildly popular iPhone, Google (GOOG) and Verizon Wireless (VZ/VOD) have joined forces to bring the web giant's Android smart phone to Verizon Wireless's huge mobile customer base. The partnership, which significantly ups the ante in the cell phone wars, represents a major step for Google's Android open-source mobile operating system, which until now had only been available on T-Mobile smart phones.

It's a good thing Google CEO Eric Schmidt left Apple's board of directors, a move Apple CEO Steve Jobs said was caused by Google's imminent entry into "more of Apple's core businesses," which meant Schmidt would "have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest."