Despite a lawsuit from Apple alleging trademark infringement over the name “appstore” the Amazon Appstore launched today,

The Amazon Appstore is selling apps for Android phones and tablets in a challenge to Google’s own Android Marketplace.

And, for at least today, Amazon is giving away Angry Birds Rio, for Android, for free.

At the D: Dive into Mobile conference in San Francisco yesterday, Andy Rubin, Google’s VP of Mobile Platforms delivered a keynote - addressing mobile phone technology as well as what the future of tablets might look like. He dove into Android — explaining the past (Android started as an eight-person start-up), present, and possible future.

Here’s our favorite quote:

Question: Is Android too clunky? Will we see a sea change where Android really gets more user friendly?

Rubin: I would probably characterize Android today as an enthusiast product for early adopters — or wives of tech enthusiasts.

From Times Technology:

Planning to get a smartphone? If you’re a woman, chances are you want an iPhone.

Meanwhile, Mars residents are likely to go the Android route, according to new research from The Nielsen Co.

Also, BlackBerry is still commanding 27% of the smartphone market.

From Forbes:

Google’s Android mobile operating system is gaining momentum in the enterprise smartphone market against the BlackBerry OS from rival Research in Motion, according to a recent ChangeWave survey.[1] Based on Android’s impressive security and multitasking features, we think it will continue to be a formidable competitor going forward.

Forbes also compares Android’s 70,000 apps to RIM’s 10,000.

In online search, the Yahoo-Google rivalry was everyone’s favorite.

But Yahoo is not the contender it once was. It’s teamed with Microsoft in a strategic advertising deal, and Bing is poised to pass Yahoo as the No. 2 search engine any day now.

So Yahoo, it seems, is putting old qualms aside, and is developing several apps for Google’s Android mobile system. In July, it launched Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger for Android.

But Yahoo isn’t exactly in bed with Google now. Yahoo still touts many of its efforts for Apple’s iOS platform, and appears to be investing in more apps for that system.

Image: Yahoo Mail for Android

A simple game involving a hopping alien has proven to be a cash cow.

Doodle Jump, the highly addictive iPhone game, announced it had sold 5 million units at the end of June. Sales of the 99-cent game have continued to climb since.

In January, Lima Sky reported that downloads of the game were nearing 2 million.

Since the blizzard of success, Doodle Jump is being reworked for the iPad. A version for Google’s Android platform is already available.

Image: Doodle Jump

With the Macintosh, Apple was the only company that made machines based on its operating system. Microsoft trounced it with Windows, which would be deployed be many manufacturers.

History, it seems, is repeating itself. Only difference is Google isn’t making very much money from this endeavor.