T-Mobile USA finally offered an estimated time of arrival on its much-anticipated Android-based mobile phone, the first to run Google’s open-source operating system.

T-Mobile plans to give the public a peek at the phone on Tuesday and offer more details about availability and pricing at a press conference in New York.

The phone--being manufactured by HTC, marketed by T-Mobile, and inspired by Google--will be available next month. (see T-Mobile to Market First Android Phone)

But is the anticipation around this phone justified considering the fact that it is a phone that supports the latest of at least four operating systems, at a time when the significance of the mobile operating system is waning?

“This is mostly about Google and the market potential inherent in that,” said Tim Farrar, president of Telecom Media and Finance Associates. “Given that it is Google, one would expect the mobile ads to be more closely integrated with the operating system.”

Mobile ads have been limited by the array of handsets with different hardware and software configurations, and while better ads mean more revenue for Google and the mobile industry, it won’t wow consumers.

At least not in the way the iPhone, which was packed with brand new, game-changing consumer goodies, did.

“Google and T-Mobile will have to do something in the way of new services or lower cost for the user, or they will have very marginal impact,” he said.

Particularly at a time when the U.S. economy is slowing and jobs are being lost. There is some speculation that the Android crowd will use ad revenues to significantly subsidize the cost of the phones.

But the gist of the Android excitement still centers on Google.

“People are seeing this is the first step in a progression of the handset as an open platform and the fact that it’s Google,” said Frank Dickson, an analyst with Multimedia Intelligence. “When you integrate location with applications like Google Maps, and mobile ads, people see potential for a kind of holy grail.”