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Google faces new challenges

This means that Android systems can already be offered for a few tens of dollars, and that price will probably fall. It's these systems that will flood emerging economies – Asia, Africa and South America – and ensure that Android emerges as the dominant player there, too. But once more, that's not necessarily good news for Google: Chinese manufacturers have no qualms about installing their own apps and interfaces. These will be Android phones only at the lowest levels, with varying levels of compatibility. As The H reported recently, the Chinese government is unhappy with Google's dominance in the smartphone market, and can be expected to encourage any move by local manufacturers to assert their independence in this way.

Unfortunately for Google, these challenges are coming at a time when Android will be largely rudderless. News that Android's creator, Andy Rubin, has "decided it’s time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google" means that Android's new boss, Sundar Pichal, will be too busy dealing with internal organisational matters as he brings Android alongside Chrome to worry much about external challenges. The fact that one of those is coming from lots of obscure Chinese companies turning out ultra-cheap pseudo-Android systems will make it even harder for him to respond.

Moreover, Google's wavering commitment to openness isn't helping it to win – or even keep – friends at this critical juncture. The introduction of DRM extensions to HTML5 on Chrome OS, is one example of this. Even worse is the following:

In a shocking move, Google has recently deleted AdBlock Plus from the Android Play Store. This is hugely disappointing because it demonstrates that Google is willing to censor software and abandon its support for open platforms as soon as there's an ad-related business reason for doing so.

Until now, the internet and software development communities have relied on Google to be safely on their side when it comes to building open platforms, encouraging innovation, and giving users maximum choice about how their computers will function. But with today's news, that commitment to openness suddenly looks much, much weaker.

Nor does Google have many friends left among the handset manufacturers. After the upbeat start five years ago, the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) has faded away – the last "What's New" item on its home page is dated 18 July 2011. It is probably no coincidence that shortly afterwards, on 15 August 2011, Google acquired Motorola Mobility, thus placing itself in direct competition with the other OHA members, who were presumably pretty cheesed off.

Despite these bad things happening, it's worth emphasising how much Google has achieved with Android. Single-handedly it has established open systems and Linux as the default approach for mobile computing – both for smartphones and tablets. That may explain in part the sudden flowering of alternatives, all of which take for granted the fact that their systems will be Linux-based and open to varying degrees.

Indeed, the usually dull Mobile World Congress turned into an astonishing celebration of both those aspects. The clear stars of the show were Mozilla's Firefox OS and Ubuntu Touch, with Jolla Sailfish and Tizen playing supporting roles. Significantly, these were seen as being far more innovative than the mainstream offerings at the show.

Of course, whether all – or even any – of those can flourish is still unclear. But the fact that they even exist, let alone are being received with interest, offers an astonishing contrast with the mobile sector five years ago, when free software was largely irrelevant and almost completely ignored. For all the global successes of the new top dogs Google and Android, that is the real victory here.


Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+. For other feature articles by Glyn Moody, please see the archive.

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