Vice President of Engineering and head of Android at Google, Andy Rubin has struck back at the latest press speculation. This arose contextual to accusations suggesting that the Android mobile phone operating system was shrinking its open source capabilities.

Content from the Android Developers blog, Rubin says, “Recently, there’s been a lot of misinformation in the press about Android and Google’s role in supporting the ecosystem. I’m writing in the spirit of transparency and in an attempt to set the record straight”.

Moreover, he added that from the time the first Android devices hit the market in 2008, Google has been “committed to fostering the development of an open platform for the mobile industry and beyond”. Conversely, this remark was made in contrast to the process followed by competitors such as Apple.

But more recently, denigration from many has implied that Google, in an effort to enhance user experience for Android, has lead Rubin to adopt rather stringent control on who is permitted initial access to the source code. Furthermore, he went on to say that “if someone wishes to market a device as Android-compatible or include Google applications on the device, we do require the device to conform with some basic compatibility requirements. (After all, it would not be realistic to expect Google applications – or any applications for that matter – to operate flawlessly across incompatible devices). Our “anti-fragmentation” program has been in place since Android 1.0 and remains a priority for us to provide a great user experience for consumers and a consistent platform for developers. In fact, all of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance agreed not to fragment Android when we first announced it in 2007. Our approach remains unchanged: there are no lock-downs or restrictions against customizing UIs”

Whilst this does not entirely elucidate suggestions about Google halting the continual upgrades to its operating system, or even allegations that it has implemented a more rigid administration about approving devices for Android use, it is nonetheless a straight forward endeavour by the digital broadcasters to inform developers about its belief with regards to the OS thriving due to its open source capabilities.

Rubin has asserted earlier that Google however, likes to engage with hardware manufacturers for developing version of the Android OS. Conversely, the partner for the upcoming version, codenamed “Ice Cream Sandwich” has not been established. Rubin added, “There are not, and never have been, any efforts to standardize the platform on any single chipset architecture.”

To sum up though, Rubin said that the tablet OS Honeycomb has not been open sourced just yet as developers work to get it up and running for phones but argued that “this temporary delay does not represent a change in strategy. We remain firmly committed to providing Android as an open source platform across many device types”.

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