Despite continuing rumors around delays in Android, the Google-spearheaded project remains on track to meet its previously stated goal of shipping the first Android-enabled mobile phone later this year, BetaNews confirmed today.

After reports of an an Android delay surfaced in a posting by The Street's Gary Krakow earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal published an article this morning -- citing unnamed sources -- stating that Android-based phones might not make it to market until the end of 2008, due to difficulties faced by T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel.

The WSJ story also suggested that any major impact from Android won't be felt until 2009.

But in unveiling Android about eight months ago, Google set the second half of 2008 as the release date for the first Android-enabled phones. So the release of an Android phone by the end of this year would not represent a delay.

In any case, Google is again refuting that Android's dates have slipped.

"We remain on schedule to deliver the first Android-based handset in the second half of 2008," a Google spokesperson wrote in an e-mail to BetaNews today. "We're very excited to see the momentum continuing to build behind the Android platform among carriers, handset manufacturers, developers and consumers." As previously reported in BetaNews, Google first issued denials of a Android delay during the June 3 time frame, in reaction to Krakow's blog. At that time, Google noted that some of its partners had already publicly stated their intentions to ship Android-enabled phones by the end of this year.

Since then, executives from T-Mobile have been quoted in various venues as promising to ship Android handsets during 2008. Meanwhile, representatives of manufacturing firm HTC have stated publicly that HTC will come to market with an Android phone this year.

Sprint Nextel, for its part, has never publicly stated any intentions to release an Android phone any time in 2008, anyway.