The myth of the free and open Android

Android – this is not a free platform, and only partially open, according to a popular British newspaper The Guardian, which managed to find out some of the principles of cooperation with Google device manufacturers.

The Android platform is not free, as advocates Google, according to the publication The Guardian. It clarified the principles of relationships developer platform and mobile device manufacturers.

If Android is installed on the device without the application Google, such as Gmail, Google Maps and Google Play, manufacturers do not have to pay for the system.

However, in reality almost no one sells a device without application Google, because in this case the platform loses its value: the user is no possibility to get access to the official app store.

If the manufacturer decides to implement its new smartphone or tablet applications Google – that is, almost always – he is obliged to pay the company for each unit issued roughly 75 cents.

“For example, if the manufacturer has made 100 thousand smartphones, he is obliged to pay Google $ 75 thousand,” – said the source edition of The Guardian. As a result, Google earns on this service (called Google Mobile Services) approximately $ 100 million in the quarter.

This is a small amount compared to the total quarterly revenue Google, which last was $ 13.7 billion and 75 cents – a tiny amount compared to the $ 15 that for each smartphone on Windows Phone, according to unofficial data, takes Microsoft.

The obligation to pay this amount deprives Android status “free”, likes to say that Google, preferring not to disclose the terms of the operating system manufacturers.

“Google has many times used the word” free “in front of Android, that on the Internet it has become dogma. The problem is that it is an absolute lie, “- writes The Guardian.

“Installing the application Google Play without signing the relevant contract with Google is illegal. But Google does not have the resources to track each violation. It relies on the amount. Large vendors pay. On small firms the company prefers to turn a blind eye, “- said the source.

In any case, the buyer can set the device application Google yourself, but how to do it – he needs to be sorted out.

The Guardian Google and refutes the statement that Android is open. “This is true only in part – the newspaper writes. – Source platform actually can be downloaded via the Internet from servers Google. It can make any, and then – to amend it. For example, as did Amazon, offer their own version of the plates on Kindle”.

Google prefers developing Android in their own walls, refusing to attract external developers, which is an important feature of open source projects such as Linux, MySQL, PHP and Python – indicates Guardian.

The publication suggests that the rejection of third-party developers to attract a detrimental effect on the timing of the development of Android: “Manufacturers can not make a contribution to the system, and have to wait until a new version of the platform.”

Several years ago, it was reported that the application for access to the services of Google, which vendors installed on their Android-powered devices, not accrue to them for free.