The excitement around the T-Mobile G1 is palpable (as is the skepticism), and HTC is planning on the Googlephone to contribute a huge amount to their bottom line. Over the next year, they’re hoping to ship $18 billion worth of the things, with a full $7 billion of that being in the rush and holiday season. That’s a lot of phones!

They really could hit those targets, especially with T-Mobile pushing the thing on new customers; after all, it’s not much of an investment, and it’s not too much of a stretch to tell unsure buyers that it does everything the iPhone does but costs less and has a full keyboard. Plus, as the Android Market starts heating up, we’re going to see a lot of really attractive apps — everyone’s building teams and I’m sure there’s a big independent effort as well.