“Google Inc. is learning that changing the cellphone industry isn’t easy,” Jessica E. Vascellaro and Amol Sharma report for The Wall Street Journal.

“The Internet giant and more than 30 partners announced in November a bold plan for a new breed of handsets based on a suite of mobile software called Android. At the time, Google said it planned to have the new phones on the market by the second half of this year,” Vascellaro and Sharma report.

“Google now says that the handsets won’t arrive until the fourth quarter. And some cellular carriers and makers of programs that work with Android are struggling to meet that schedule, people familiar with the situation say,” Vascellaro and Sharma report.

“Wireless carriers throughout the industry are confronting challenges as they seek to customize the Android software—which includes an operating system and programs that work with it—to promote their own Internet services. Some handset makers are taking longer than they thought to integrate Android, test it and build custom user interfaces to meet carrier specifications,” Vascellaro and Sharma report.

Full article (subscription required) here.

Perhaps Google’s in cahoots with Apple? If so, it’s genius. If not, Android is serving the same purpose.