By Scott Moritz

Android lands at T-Mobile Tuesday, and as part of the effort to deliver the Google phone to the mobile market, T-Mobile is considering including free e-mail access.

The new Android-powered phone will have Google’s (GOOG) Gmail service built in, and T-Mobile executives are considering offering access to Gmail free, without the need for a data plan, says one person close to the discussions.

The HTC-manufactured T-Mobile phone will be the first of the hotly-anticipated Android-operated handsets, and one of several new challengers to Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone. The Android project was created by Google to cultivate an open application platform to operate next-generation mobile phones.  T-Mobile  – a unit of Deutshe Telekom (DT) - is expected to unveil the phone during a press conference at 10:30 ET Tuesday, and offer it for sale later this fall.

Analysts see the Google phone as the beginning of an important lead in mobile Internet advertising through ads appearing on Android powered phones. Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst with Collins Stewart, estimates that the phone will generate $5 billion in incremental revenue for Google by 2011.

Should T-Mobile decide to offer free Gmail access, it would be seen as a big counter move to Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry e-mail service, which costs $15 a month extra. And if telcos embrace Google’s ad-supported free e-mail, it could help drive Google’s ultimate aim to spread its successful desktop advertising business to mobile phones.

The move to provide free Gmail has risks, however.

T-Mobile could undercut its own data revenue stream from BlackBerry subscribers if users trade in their Curves and Pearls for the Android phone. But T-Mobile, the No.4 wireless shop, needs an attention-getting strategy like free e-mail to help set itself apart from bigger players like AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ) and Sprint (S).  

Google referred calls for comment to T-Mobile and a T-Mobile representative could not provide an immediate comment.

As for the HTC Android phone itself, one user who got an early trial described the slide out keyboard as a little awkward for some typing tasks. The browsing quality however was “better than BlackBerry and close to the iPhone.”

By Michal Lev-Ram

Microsoft’s Silicon Valley shopping spree continues with its purchase Monday of Danger, a Palo-Alto based company that makes the technology behind the youth-centric Sidekick phone, popularized by Paris Hilton and other celebrities.

Like its bid to buy Yahoo (YHOO) — which turned down the tech giant’s $44.6 billion buyout offer Monday — acquiring Danger is yet another move to compete against Google (GOOG), which is making a big push in the mobile industry with its Android operating system for cell phones. Ironically, Danger was founded by Andy Rubin, who went on to launch a little startup called Android, which was later snapped up by Google. Rubin now heads up the search giant’s mobile division.

Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s (MSFT) entertainment and devices division, announced the deal for Danger at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. “The addition of Danger serves as a perfect complement to our existing software and services, and also strengthens our dedication to improving mobile experiences centered around individuals and what they like,” Bach said in a statement.

In addition to making the technology behind T-Mobile’s (DT) Sidekick phones, Danger develops mobile services, including a MySpace application for cell phones. Unlike Microsoft, Danger has a young, cult-like following and Redmond hopes the acquisition can help extend its reach in the consumer market.

Microsoft says it plans to combine Danger’s services with its consumer-focused products, including MSN, Xbox, Zune, Windows Live and Windows Mobile, the company’s own operating system for cell phones. But it’s not clear exactly how Danger will fit into this vision, and whether the smaller company’s platform, which competes with Windows Mobile, will disappear.

“It will be really interesting to see how Microsoft integrates the technology, business model, and overall device cachet to a culture more at home to selling to enterprise CIOs than it is to selling rock stars,” Jupiter Resarch analyst Michael Gartenberg wrote in his blog.