If the Samsung Galaxy S taking over sales of the iPhone 4 in Japan is any indication, Android is growing at an insane rate, and isn't showing any signs of stopping. And that's exactly why Panasonic is choosing our favorite mobile OS in its return to the smartphone market. Starting early next year, the company plans on selling multiple smartphones in Japan, although sales in other countries will not begin until 2012.

"We misjudged the speed at which smartphones would be taken up in the Japanese market," Osamu Waki, head of the company's mobile communications unit said at a news conference. "With the rapid shift to Android, we want to catch up quickly."

We'll have to wait and see the strategy they employ to "catch up" with the competition, be it flooding the market with a variety of cheap devices or giving us just one high-end device with build quality we can all be proud of. One thing's for sure - competition is rarely bad, and we welcome Panasonic's efforts.

Source: Reuters via Phandroid