Apple’s multi-touch patent has been the source of much deliberation lately, with a great deal of speculation as to whether the iPhone manufacturer is ready to step in and thwart Palm on a legal level when the Pre is released.

But there’s been a question as to why the first Android powered handset, the G1, doesn’t have this function enabled. The operating system is capable of handling multi-touch, and the screen sensor is also able to detect multiple instances at once.

Homebrew hackers have even gone as far as to activate it in the Android system.

VentureBeat is now suggesting that the lack of G1 multi-touch is down to a gentleman’s agreement between Apple and Google. An Android insider has apparently said that Google accepted Apple’s request not to use the feature on good faith, which perhaps isn’t as unlikely as it might initially seem.

Google has a vested interest in maintaining a healthy relationship with Apple, considering it’s putting out a great many applications for the platform as well as formatting web pages to display on the handset.

Of course, Google’s chief executive Eric Schmidt is also on Apple’s board of directors, which could mean he pushed the favour through or was away that the multi-touch patent was pending and convinced Google that it would be better to avoid any possible legal conflicts in the future.

It won’t become entirely clear until the Palm Pre is actually released, which will prove to be either the catalyst or the answer to Apple’s legal intentions over the multi-touch patent.

But with new Android products being announced everyday (particularly hot-tech items like the Archos Android tablet, which would benefit hugely from a multi-touch interface), we have to wonder how long it will be before a third party hardware manufacturer decides it no longer wants to honour this alleged agreement between Apple and Google...