The race is on for software supremacy on Google’s Android platform, as developers compete to develop the applications that will eventually come preloaded on branded phones. Today TuneWiki, one of the most popular third-party developers for the iPhone, has announced a media player for Android that will feature an iPhone-esque interface, support for synching with iTunes, and the karaoke-like lyric functionality that put them on the map.

Owners of jailbroken iPhones may be familiar with TuneWiki already - As we mentioned last week, the iPhone version has seen “hundreds of thousands” of downloads since December 2007. The iPhone version of the software features a player that displays karaoke-style lyrics in time with songs in the device’s library. TuneWiki has partnered with Universal to provide lyrics legally, and has ongoing talks with other music labels.

The Android version of the software has the same karaoke synching, with added support for music videos that are synched with lyrics. While this is significant in itself, the real news here is the media player that will accompany the software. From the brief demonstration seen in the video below, the player seems to be every bit as usable as the one seen on the iPhone (it looks nearly exactly the same, which isn’t a bad thing).

Android may be an “Open” platform that will allow handset manufacturers (and possibly users) to install whatever applications they want, but we’re going to be seeing a few dominant leaders emerge in each space. There won’t be any shortage of iPhone-imitating apps, but TuneWiki has given itself a leg up by establishing a number of features that will be difficult to replicate. Whether or not these will be enough to lift TuneWiki above the rest of the pack remains to be seen.

You can try an emulated version of the software (minus some of the navigation seen in the video) here.

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Israeli startup TuneWiki delivers user generated song lyrics to music playing on a PC or mobile device.

The service, which was launched in December 2007, became a hit with “hundreds of thousands” of downloads to jailbroken iPhones alone (says our source), despite the very sketchy nature of the main website and the fact that only hacked iPhones can use the app.

Why is TuneWiki so popular? The video at the end of the post shows how it synchronizes lyrics (karaoke style) to music playing on the iPhone.

A source tells us that the startup has raised an initial round of financing from Benchmark Capital’s Israel fund. General Partner Michael Eisenberg joined the board of directors. We’re still trying to track down the size of the round, and if there were any other investors.

Song Lyrics are still relatively hard to find legally on the Internet. Last year Yahoo began publishing lyrics for hundreds of thousands of songs in image format (to reduce copying and scraping, through a partnership with Gracenote.

TuneWiki as a legal song lyric wiki alone is an interesting site (they recently announced that Universal Music is permitting usage). The syncing software can turn it into a real business. Look for it to take off when official third party applications on the iPhone are released this summer. For now, though, the hacked application is one of the feature applications on the iPhone installer.

TuneWiki was founded by serial entrepreneurs and former Israeli fighter pilots Amnon Sarig and Rani Cohen.

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