If you didn't believe me the first time around, I have proof today: Motorola (NYSE:MOT) will make a handset for Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) to be sold alongside the HTC-designed Nexus One.

This was obvious from the start for several reasons:

  • Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha took an active part in the Nexus One launch.
  • Motorola is a longtime member of the Open Handset Alliance, which is the steering committee behind Google's Android platform.
  • Finally, Google has told us many times that its Google-branded family of phones will be an eclectic lot. Motorola simply had to show up in the lineup one of these days.

In fact, Motorola plans to introduce "at least one direct-to-consumer device with Google," according to comments by Mr. Jha on Motorola's latest earnings call. That leaves the door open for several such handsets.

For Motorola, Google is simply another sales channel to supplement Verizon (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T), Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), and Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT) subsidiary T-Mobile here in the U.S., and for Google, Motorola is simply one of many respectable hardware partners. If Motorola can deliver a suitable product, Google will sell it.

I don't know if Motorola's first Google-specific phone will be the Nexus Two or not, and there's no telling which service provider might be the initial launch partner for it. Perhaps Samsung will muscle in front of Motorola. Sweet, sweet irony! But the Nexus family will grow, and Android phones are now the official future for Motorola.

This hookup was inevitable. Now get a room, party people.