Google backs Android and HTC, Apple may force HTC to remote cripple smartphones, AT&T CEO says iPhone crucial for some time

Google has announced that it is backing HTC and Android in the patent feud amidst Apple and HTC. Google wasn’t named in the suits, but HTC builds its Nexus One device.

A patent expert is warning that whether Apple wins its patent suit against HTC, HTC could be forced to remotely

cripple some of its smartphones. The expert is Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard Law School professor.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has said that he expects the iPhone to be an important part of the wireless company’s line for “quite some instance.” He additionally says that signal quality will be considerably better for iPhone users by mid-2010.