For the longest time, the big knock on Apple is that the company is a “closed ecosystem”. Meaning that Apple controls everything it makes, so you buy an Apple device (be it Mac, iPod or iPhone) that is made by Apple, running software from Apple and is serviced by Apple. This compares to the rest of the computer making world, who makes (or has someone in China do it for them) hardware and then almost always buys the software it runs on from Microsoft.

Thus you can buy a Windows 7 laptop from a bunch of different makers like Dell, HP, Toshiba, Acer, Asus, etc., etc,

You want something from Apple, you have one and only one choice.

But the argument from Apple has always been that by controlling every aspect of their products, the user gets a better and more reliable experience. Fans of Apple tend to agree with that, and the number of non-Mac users who have bought Apple’s offerings of iPods and iPhones suggest that it’s not just the Apple faithful who agree with the end results.

So this weekend, the big buzz in the tech world is that on Friday, Google dropped a nice little holiday bonus on all of its employees, a brand new Google phone. Kudos to the folks at Tech Crunch for the great reporting on the breaking news details.

You might be forgiven if you thought that Google already had a phone, given the ads that are all over the place touting the Droid, the Hero, the MyTouch, etc. All clearly say that they are “Powered by Google”, which is true because they are using Google’s “Android” phone software platform.

But note that none of them are actually called “The Google phone”. Because they aren’t built by Google. Apparently that changed yesterday.

The Google phone is reported to be a latest generation touch screen phone that is actually being manufactured by Taiwan phone maker HTC. That makes sense, because HTC was already building the Google-powered phones called the Hero, Droid Eris, and MyTouch 3G for Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile respectively. However this new phone is being built to Google’s own specifications and may well be sold without being tied to a specific cellular provider. That is also known in cell phone speak as being an “unlocked” phone.

If all of the still-breaking details about The Google Phone are anywhere close to being true, then Google may have taken a page straight out of the Apple playbook. Which isn’t that surprising since Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt just recently jumped off Apple’s board of directors because Google was coming more and more into direct competition with Apple.

But here’s where it may get REALLY interesting. Apple was already dealing with a growing negative publicity problem with AT&T over that carrier’s problems supporting the millions of iPhone users. It seems the iPhone faithful are using their iPhones so much that they are overloading the AT&T network even more that those effective “Our red map is way bigger than your blue map” commercials from competitor Verizon Wireless. The AT&T reliability issue led to a scathing post from commentator “Fake Steve Jobs” on his blog, that has resoundingly resonated with frustrated iPhone/AT&T customers all across America. (Read the post, which I caution you is loaded with rather “salty” language, by clicking right here.)

Now comes word that AT&T had some major problems with its cell network last night in the San Francisco area. The very same night that a whole truckload of new “Google Phones” hit the airwaves as employees left the company’s “Googleplex” headquarters in nearby Mountain View? Did I mention that the Google Phone is a GSM-standard using cell phone? The same GSM standard that AT&T uses? The same as the iPhone? (And not the same as the hot selling Droid phone from Motorola, which runs on the CDMA standard of Verizon?)

How could that have slipped my mind? So this is all just one big coincidence, right?

As I said, this is where it may get really interesting. I mean REALLY interesting.