This image was lost some time after publication.

For an understanding of why Google's Android operating system for cell phones — the basis of the still-nonexistent Googlephone — is set to flop, look no further than one of its biggest advocates, T-Mobile. At a wireless conference in Redwood City, T-Mobile executive Joe Sims promised an "avalanche" of Android phones sometime between October and December. But what's going to be so special about these phones, besides their Google OS? T-Mobile's phones "will be tailored to the consumer, and the consumer, in turn, will tell the carriers what they expect their mobile devices to be able to do," a Dow Jones reporter paraphrased Sims. One hopes something was lost in transcription there, because it sure sounds like T-Mobile doesn't know how to market its phones, and are hoping its customers will come up with ideas. Buying an iPhone, which at least is made by someone with a clear idea of what it's good for: that seems easier.