I'd guess Google wants to offer it for free. After all, it's going to be free on all Android 2.0 devices and (overall) they haven't shown much Android vs iPhone

I'd guess Google wants to offer it for free. After all, it's going to be free on all Android 2.0 devices and (overall) they haven't shown much Android vs iPhone favoritism: except where Apple has not let them (e.g. Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Voice). Overall, I think I'm beginning to understand Google's mobile application strategy better. They want their apps to win (or at least be popular enough to be a strong beachhead). Viewed from that perspective, Android is as much insurance (that they don't get cut off from an important application area by an OS/device vendor) as it is something they want to have adopted.