I’ve been cautiously skeptical about Google’s Android operating system as a successful mobile platform. I love the features, I love the UI, but the phones were seriously lacking. Google CEO Eric Schmidt made some comments during the company’s earnings conference call that may change my mind, though.

Schmidt says Android Adoption is set to blow up, and it’s because of those crappy phones the system currently runs. It’s not the phones themselves, but the number of them. There are currently 12 phones running Android, and more phones and netbooks coming out monthly it seems. As that number continues to grow, it gives developers more and more reason to spend time on the platform.

Mobile is Google’s next great frontier, and where analysts expect most of the company’s growth to come from over the next couple years. With more Android adoption, that growth is essentially guaranteed. Hopefully 2010 will see the release of a phone that might make me consider getting rid of the iPhone. I love a healthy competition.