The world’s first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1 (based on the HTC Dream platform), has officially been discontinued today. It is no longer available via T-Mobile’s website.

More than anything, this marks the beginning of the end for the first-generation flagship Android devices, as phones running Android 1.5 and 1.6 are slowly phased out of the Android ecosystem—reducing version fragmentation, and allowing developers and users alike to move away from obsolete software.

Of course, some homage is owed; the G1 originated the ever-expanding family of Android smartphones we have today . The G1 helped Android move from its status as an obscure, Google-acquired experiment, to that of a first-class mobile operating system. And like most obsolete portable electronics, the G1 will soon be finding its way to junk drawers, e-waste bins, and technologically inept relatives.

But a couple of years from now, we’ll look back on the Galaxy S, or the EVO 4G, or the Droid X with a similar nostalgia (if you can call it that)—remembered as the phones that launched Android into the mainstream, and paved the way for devices and software we cannot yet imagine.

But seriously, it’s just a phone, don’t get all misty-eyed on me.

So with that, we bid you adieu, G1.