Google, Verizon Deepen Ties

When Verizon Wireless and Google set out to challenge the iPhone, they started from less than scratch. They stood on opposite sides of major industry issues and had never worked closely together. Now they're counting on an unlikely but growing friendship between their chief executives, Eric Schmidt of Google and Lowell McAdam of Verizon Wireless, to pave the way forward. On Friday, Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone, started selling two phones that are the network's first to run on Google's Android software. Verizon is putting the muscle of its largest marketing campaign ever behind the Droid from Motorola, one of the two new devices.