In giving the thumbs-up to Google's
acquisition of Motorola, regulators in China
stipulated that Google must make Android free
and open for five years, a source with
knowledge of the situation confirmed with
CNET today.
The stipulation would seem to be designed to
keep Google from denying Motorola's handset
competitors access to the mobile operating
system, or from giving Motorola an advantage
of some sort -- such as integration between its
handsets and Android that's tighter than
connections between rival phones and the OS.
From the beginning, Google has taken an
open approach with Android, making it free
and available to any hardware manufacturer --
a strategy that's helped to quickly make
Android the No. 1 mobile OS globally.
"Many hardware partners have contributed to
Android's success and we look forward to
continuing our work with all of them on an
equal basis to deliver outstanding user
experiences," Google CEO Larry Page said
during a conference call last August, at the
time the intended acquisition was announced.
"We built Android as an open-source platform
and it will stay that way."
Still, despite the offering of such olive
branches, and despite Android's great success
as an open OS, Motorola rivals may well have
been nervous. "Any way (Google) tries to
couch this, there's no doubt Motorola is the
most favored player," Gartner analyst Michael
Gartenberg told CNET's Roger Cheng in
August. "If I'm a third-party vendor, I have
some real concerns here."
That's in part because it could have at least
crossed Google's mind to integrate its software
and services more tightly with the Motorola
hardware, following Apple's end-to-end
approach with its own hardware and services.
Apple uses the sale of its iPhones and iPads to
drive sales of iTunes, the App store, iCloud,
and other offerings. Google, of course, has its
own services -- Google Drive, Google+, and so
on -- and a Google-focused Android device
could further push subscribers to them.
Ultimately, it's these services that are the
money-makers for Google. Fragmentation of
Android is another concern, and a dominant,
tightly integrated Android handset might help
to address that.
What, then, would rival phone makers do?
There aren't many alternatives to Android.
Windows Phone might become a more
attractive option, but then, Microsoft has a
cozy relationship with Nokia, so it could be deja
vu all over again. Here's what CNET's Maggie
Reardon had to say back in August, in a
discussion of the merger's possible impact on
consumers:
What is likely to happen is that HTC, LG,
Sony Ericsson, and Samsung will remain
Android partners, but they may have to
find new ways to differentiate their
products from Motorola's more Google-
centric hardware. This may mean that
HTC offers more advancements for its
Sense software, which rides on top of the
Android software. And Samsung may
develop more TouchWiz customizations.
For consumers this could either be a
good thing or a bad thing. If executed
well, it will offer consumers more variety
in device capabilities as well as look and
feel. But if it's not executed well, it could
just mean more fragmentation in the
Android ecosystem.
Reardon also wrote that the merger would
probably lead to more-advanced devices from
Google, a good thing for consumers.
With the stipulation from China's regulators
(which was reported earlier today by several
media outlets), all this may have become
moot. And if Google is to be believed, it may
not have been an issue anyway.
A company representative told CNET today that
Google's "stance since we agreed to acquire
Motorola has not changed and we look
forward to closing the deal."
So, had it crossed Google's mind to tie
Android tightly to Motorola handsets? We
might have to wait five years to find out. And
who knows what the landscape will look like
then?
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