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Garmin Asia Pacific marketing director Tony An has purportedly stated that a “bunch of new handsets from Garmin powered by Google’s Android platform are set to ship sometime in the second half of 2009″. While this is the only news we have regarding functionality, you can be sure they will include at least as many features as the nuviphone as well as some top-notch GPS functionality. Apparently, the manufacturing process will be contracted out to a compant like HTC, although no specific word on which company is yet available. More news is sure to come on this one.

EDIT: Not so fast, says Garmin. Apparently a statement is being worked on right now to debunk the claims made by DigiTimes this morning. So much for getting our hopes up. We’ll keep you posted when the statement is released.

EDIT 2: Wired seems to have picked up the story as well and is still spinning it as confirmation from Garmin that an Android phone is in the works, although it’s not clear whether they are aware of Garmin’s reaction to DigiTimes’ post. Engadget seems to have the story straight, stating:

The company says that “the story contains a number of inaccuracies in both sales figures and product rollout schedules,” and while it does say it has “an Android-based phone under development,” it also reminds us that Nuvifone won’t be it; instead, Garmin’s first modern entry into the world of telephony will be based on a proprietary build of Linux, as was originally planned.

Silverlight, Microsoft’s rich Internet application browser plugin, may soon be seen on Android handsets.  The news comes from Microsoft’s Scott Guthrie who told TechRadar.com “[The] Google phone is slightly different. It’s more of an open platform, that is something we’re going to continue to look at. Certainly as it’s gotten deployed and if sales are good we’ll definitely keep our eyes out and look at that in the future.”

Apple made a confusing and more-than-likely bad decision to keep Adobe’s comparable Flash plugin off of the iPhone for unknown reasons. This also kept Microsoft’s Silverlight from appearing on the iPhone as well. If Silverlight or Flash are seen on Android phones before the iPhone, it could possibly be a killer blow to iPhone sales.

Straight from the horse’s mouth comes word that Motorola will be using that new 350-member Android team to design a “new Android Social Networking SmartPhone”. Although this could just be an afterthough addition, it appears that social networking will be the core of the new phone.

The news sparks some interesting ideas about mixing and matching social networks through a mobile handset. Could we see in the near future a single, unified Android frontend to Myspace, Facebook, Digg and others? Let’s hope so. The full quote from Coroflot.com after the jump.

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In the wake of the T-Mobile G1’s incredible success comes rumors of another Android phone on T-Mobile. The HTC Touch HD is a brilliant Windows Mobile handset due for release in Europe, but if what we hear is true, we may see it this side of the pond running our favorite mobile OS.

HTC and T-Mobile worked together on the G1, so to speculate that they will also work on a “G2″ followup isn’t much of a gamble. And when you look at the specs on the Touch HD, it’s hard to ask for more firepower to fully exploit the power of Android.

For now, it’s a waiting game until we hear more. But we wouldn’t set our hopes to high for any news in the near future. T-Mobile is still basking in the record sales of the G1, and it is doubtful they’ll be looking to release anything this side of ‘08.