Android to save user-experience by non-fragmentation clauses

Google's mobile OS was created to be an open-source platform upon which software and hardware makers could differentiate themselves and further innovate. It seems now that Google may be trying to exercise some control over this number one mobile platform.

The reasons for their recent anti-fragmentation bend may span from quality control to protecting itself from invading competitors--namely Bing. For example, Verizon has been attempting to develop a version of Android that would use Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Google has now sent a clear message to developers and device makers, such as LG, Samsung, Facebook and others. Google will be requiring approval of all partnerships. Also, Google will be scrutinizing tweaks made to the system in an attempt to reduce the fragmentation of user experience from one device to the next.

Critics complain that the hardening of these rules runs counter to the open-source philosophy upon which Android was first introduced. Besides protecting some of it's own self-interests, namely greater ad exposure through the mobile context, the company asserts that they are trying to keep a strong and consistent user-experience by forcing it's "non-fragmentation clauses."