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:
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