Google Cracks Down, Tightens Up Android

Google is reportedly taking drastic measures to keep Android phone makers in line, which is either good or bad news depending on how you look at it.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that Google will withhold the latest versions of Android from phone makers who don’t play by the company’s rules. ”There will be no more willy-nilly tweaks to the software,” Ashlee Vance and Peter Burrows wrote. ”No more partnerships formed outside of Google’s purview.”

They’re alluding to things like the partnership between Verizon Wireless and Microsoft, which made Bing the default search engine in Samsung’s Fascinate, and custom user interfaces such as HTC’s Sense, Motorola’s Motoblur and Samsung’s TouchWiz. It’s not clear to what extent Google will crack down on Android modifications — Bloomberg Businessweek‘s story is based on grumblings from about a dozen anonymous executives who work in the Android ecosystem — but the days of Google letting companies do what they please with Android may be coming to an end.

Tighter controls on Android will bring benefits to consumers. Android has a fragmentation problem, because wireless carriers and phone makers are slow to update their handsets to the latest version of Android. According to Google’s statistics, nearly two thirds of Android devices that have accessed the Android Market in the last two weeks are running version 2.2, which was released last June. Only 0.7 percent are running Android 2.3, the latest version of the smartphone OS. All other phones are running older versions of the software, which miss out on new features such as voice actions. The fragmentation also causes headaches for app developers, who must decide whether their software should run on older phones.

But Google’s crackdown on software tweaks upsets phone makers, who worry that they won’t be able to differentiate their handsets from the competition (I’m not on board with this argument. I’ll take a pure Android phone with awesome hardware over some decent software modification any day). It could also put a damper on innovative Android-based phones. Bloomberg Businessweek says that rumors of a Facebook phone are accurate, but that the social network isn’t happy about being subject to a review from Google.

There’s also a philosophical issue at work. Google likes to say that Android is open, referring to the fact that the company makes Android’s source code publicly available. The more restrictions Google places on Android, the more closed the software becomes. In a sense, it’s an admission that Apple isn’t wrong about everything.

http://onestarman.wordpress.com onestarman

So Much for ‘Open Source’ – Goodbye Freedom – Hello ‘Evil Doing’ Googleplex.
http://patfactorx.wordpress.com patfactorx

I hope this stops deals like the Bing on Androids
http://figerrific.wordpress.com/ figerrific

It’s still open source, just not stupid. The problem with open source is the same problem with linux, there’s too many variations to become tolerable. Simple guidelines like this article suggests would do wonders from consumers, carriers and handset manufacturers once they get in line.
Make intriguing handsets, screens, technology, hardware. Don’t slow down the phone with clunky UI’s or confuse buyers with 3 to 4 button phones with icons that vary from phone to phone.
http://onestarman.wordpress.com onestarman

The Corporate Motto of Google is ‘Don’t Be Evil’ – This was a jab at those in the Industry – probably Microsoft in particular – that Google saw as ‘over-controlling’ and ‘power-Mad’. Seeking too much control over a tool of personal FREEDOM – which is what an Internet Communication device can be – has proven to be counter-productive in the Past.
As an Example – IBM created the PC to be a Terminal for its Big Iron – It was dismayed when others started Building ‘Clones’ – similar to what had been made previously for the S100 bus. The response was to create the PS/2 based on purposely incompatible and IBM controlled Micr0-channel Architecture and OS2 operating system – it was a DISMAL FAILURE. The ESSENCE of the Modern Communication Revolution is Personal Freedom and control of One’s Own ‘Extended Self’ – inhibiting this human evolution is what I call Evil.