Tighter Android Control Will Benefit WP7, Apple iOS

When it first hit the marketplace, Google Android had a lot to offer smartphone manufacturers looking for an operating system capable of tackling Apple’s iPhone: it was open- source, license-free, and amenable to being “skinned,” or modified to suit the needs of a particular carrier or company.

However, concerned about platform fragmentation and competing against Apple’s tightly integrated software-hardware stack, Google itself is reportedly considering bringing a little more law and order to Android’s Wild West.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the search engine giant’s Android group is now demanding approval for anything that companies do with the platform’s code. The article quoted Nokia CEO Stephen Elop as saying: “The premise of a true open software platform may be where Android started, but it’s not where Android is going.”

Tighter control for long-term interest

Recently, Nokia chose Windows Phone 7 as the software for its smartphones, which will allow the Finnish manufacturer to save on research and development costs.

Google offered no comment when asked by eWEEK about its Android control plans. If verified, however, its decision could have wide-ranging effects on its competitors.

“In the short term, [Google’s decision] re-enforces the notion that there are some quality issues for the Android app portfolio,” IDC analyst Al Hilwa wrote in an email to eWEEK. “These are the result of lightweight automated procedures around app approval and we have seen the negative effect in terms of usability, privacy and security.”

According to Hilwa, relatively loose standards have not helped Android’s fragmentation issues either, which in turn harm “the perception of quality and value which ultimately determines the profitability of the devices and success of apps for developers.”

Manufacturing partners may balk at tighter Google control, “but in the long term, it is in their interest.”

A more secure Android marketplace

A stronger Android Marketplace could give the app platform more parity with Apple’s App Store and help blunt any competitive momentum for similar online storefronts from Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Research In Motion.

There’s also the view that Google’s decision will depth-charge their whole model.

“Google’s value proposition was that they would be vastly easier to deal with than Microsoft and let the vendors better differentiate,” analyst of the Enderle Group Rob Enderle told eWEEK. “They found that this led to a lot of crap being released on the market and they sucked at vendor collaboration. They are now rethinking that approach by being even more controlling.”

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