One day ahead of the device’s actual release, Time Magazine is saying the first phone to be released under Google’s Android mobile phone platform, the HTC Dream, will be Apple’s nightmare. Citing the ability to run more than one application at a time, an all-free app store, the presence of a physical keyboard, and other features, the publication said Monday that the phone will offer users "more freedom and flexibility."

The heart of Time’s approach to pre-evaluating the Dream is the lack of centralized control Google will have over application development. Time cited the fact that developers can upload anything they want to Android Market, Google’s answer to the App Store, without any oversight from Google as a key benefit.

At the same time, the fact that developers will all be working for free, at least initially, was also touted as a check in Google’s camp.

In contrast, Apple maintains tight control over every app that makes it to the App Store, something that has sparked its own controversy in recent weeks with the rejection of Podcaster

While there are hundreds of iPhone apps that are free, many more are being released for a fee, and the proclivity of iPhone and iPod touch owners to buy those for-fee apps has attracted many commercial developers to the platform. Time’s piece doesn’t evaluate the impact that these different approaches might have on the quality of applications that make it to market.

Some peple may well see Google’s strategy in the same light as Time, but unsaid by the magazine is the fact that Apple has grown a multi-billion dollar business in digital media devices, and now cell phones, in part by offering a completely controlled product in its iPod and iPhone lines.

Part of Apple’s success has stemmed from the fact that people have been able to get a mostly seamless user experience, something against which Google isn’t even trying to compete.

Time’s article acknowledges this to a certain extent, noting, "On the downside, don’t expect the Dream to be anywhere near as slick and shiny as the iPhone. T-Mobile may be much loved among teens for its colorful, flip-screen Sidekick, but the HTC Dream will likely have a more staid look that lacks the iPhone’s panache."