Googlephone OS with Webkit based browser?

There have been rumors circulating the 'net about a supposed Googlephone OS. Now well-known blogger Om Malik claims to have found have discovered five facts about the mythical beast. One of the most interesting is the possibility that the Googlephone's web browser will be based on WebKit, the renderer at the heart of Safari on both the desktop and the iPhone. In the end, though, it seems unlikely that the iPhone itself will be much threatened by the Googlephone even if it does appear, since the latter looks to have a much more conventional UI and qwerty thumb-board based interface.

Nonetheless, given how closely Apple and Google seem to be working these days, it would be interesting if Google were enter into direct competition with Apple in the smartphone space. In the end, though, this more about Google and Microsoft, where a possible Googlephone OS would butt heads with Windows Mobile 6, and perhaps presage the long-rumored Google desktop OS.