Google has announced that it is backing HTC and Android in the patent feud between Apple and HTC. Google wasn’t named in the suits, but HTC builds its Nexus One device.

A patent expert is warning that if Apple wins its patent suit against HTC, HTC could be forced to remotely cripple some of its smartphones. The expert is Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard Law School professor.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has said that he expects the iPhone to be an important part of the wireless company’s line for “quite some time.” He also says that call quality will be considerably better for iPhone users by mid-2010.