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Google has more than 30 partners signed up for its Android platform, and had originally claimed that handsets would begin arriving on the market from this summer.

However, the Wall Street Journal claims that many of the handset makers and mobile networks are failing to meet that deadline, and that phones won't now appear on the market until nearer Christmas.

Some handset manufacturers are even struggling to hit Q4, with some conceding that it could

T-Mobile USA expects to deliver an Android-powered phone in the fourth period, but Sprint Nextel Corp will not be able to, a person familiar with the matter told the WSJ. China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier with nearly 400 million subscriber accounts, will likely have its launch delayed until late this year or early 2009.

Android has also failed to win broad support from large mobile-software developers, with some claiming it's difficult to develop programs while Google continues to tweak and finalise the software.

Managing the software development while giving its partners the opportunity to lobby for new features takes time, Andy Rubin, Google's director of mobile platforms, tells the WSJ. "This is where the pain happens... We are very, very close," he claims.

Google was not immediately available for comment.

Google's mobile product manager, Hugo Barra, talks about the company's plans for Android in this month's PC Pro - on sale now