The Open Handset Alliance, the business partnership which promotes Google’s Android Operating System, just got 14 new members last week, among them the world’s largest mobile carrier Vodafone.

The rest of the updated roster are no throwaways either, with such names as AKM Semiconductor, ARM, ASUSTek Computer, Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International, Huawei Technologies, Omron Software, Softbank Mobile, Sony Ericsson, Teleca, and Toshiba entering the fray.

Responsibilities of the new members will be either to produce Android-compatible devices, develop significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support its environment by making Android-based devices more available, says the alliance press release.

The alliance was founded a year ago by Google, with the unveiling of its open source mobile operating system Android. The Linux-based software is designed to create an open platform for handset makers and wireless operators with which they can develop new mobile applications.

The alliance was formed with supporting this initiative in mind, to help the creation of applications with more features and easier development and deployment. The alliance boasts thirty-four founding members, and its numbers have now been bolstered to 47.

Nearly all major handset makers have signed on. HTC, LG, Motorola, and Samsung, as well as T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel are among its members. AT&T and Verizon Wireless on the other hand have so far chosen to stay out of the alliance. Verizon however has said that an Android phone could be included in its new open wireless network, which is defined by a streamlined certification system.

In October, T-Mobile and HTC announced the G1, the first phone that uses the Android OS, but new handsets using the same are scheduled to hit the market in 2009 from various manufacturers.

The new members should help the alliance a long way in establishing Android’s presence in the Mobile market. Nevertheless, it still has a long way to go if it wants to do that, with major competitors like the Symbian operating system by Nokia, which still dominates the market worldwide, or the Apple iPhone and RIM BlackBerry OS’s, which are hard competitors in their own right.