The launch today of Android, Google’s new cell phone OS, has elicited the usual hoopla.

The system, in partnership with T-Mobile’s G1 cell phone, may prove to be, despite some lukewarm reviews, a worthy competitor to Apple’s iPhone. While many of its features are similar, offering the now standard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the prime selling point is the OS’s underlying Linux-based open source mobile platform.

The company is touting how this will allow its app store, called the Android Marketplace, to be completely open – the inference being that it will be easier for developers to create and distribute their applications for the device without the policing Apple provides with its app store.

Critics are already pointing out how this lack of security oversight could lead to viruses and malware being dropped into coding as easily as adding salt to a recipe.

In a piece today, NY Times tech and gadget guru David Pogue responds to those accusations, saying, “[Google] will remove apps that contain malware, copyright infringement, pornography, etc…”

But we have to wonder. Last year, Google got things rolling by offering $10 million in prizes to developers. Recently announced winners included Wertago, a social networking app that lets users hook up with their friends; and cab4me, which enables users to summon a taxi with one click.

Certainly, the first wave of apps will prove useful and fun for the ever-burgeoning techno set. However, the next wave of apps is sure to take advantage of the popularity of the new smart phone technology to launch insidious malware attacks.

Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, predicts that Google’s take from mobile search revenue will reach about $2 billion by 2012. So the stakes are high.

For those who have been preaching the merits of physical and digital security, congratulations. Your big day has arrived.

Two established security players from each side of the ring - open-source software giant Novell and electronic security systems manufacturer Honeywell - announced today they have teamed up to create a security platform designed to protect the digital and physical assets of an organization.

This provides some serious validation to the belief that convergence is happening…now.

According to a news release announcing the partnership, “The integration of the Novell product into Honeywell’s SmartPlus Identity Management solution reduces cost and increases productivity by simplifying the complex process of manually assigning privileges and managing identity information across several systems.”

The release goes on to say that the integration provides centralized management, resulting in “tighter security controls across all organizational systems” to protect both physical and intellectual property.

OK, that’s all well and good and ease-of-use is an important component, but the release doesn’t mention anything about the culture clashes that are about to result. Physical and digital security workers being forced to work together…sheesh, sounds like it might be worthy of a pay-per-view event.

Their skill sets are different, their salaries are different. Plain and simple, they just don’t understand each other.

But if anyone’s worried more than the other, it’s the physical security workers. After all, it’s 2007.

As Steve Hunt, founder of 4A International, told me at this year’s RSA Conference, “The physical security side is scared because they can’t even spell IP.”

The key? Don’t converge for the sake of converging, Hunt says. Streamline the approach and do it for efficiency and effectiveness. Moderate the integration. Get both sides talking and understanding each other.

It certainly will be interesting to see what happens. But judging from Honeywell’s and Novell’s announcement today, the wheels are already well in motion for a convergence across the verticals.