Do Not Anger the Alpha Android

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For the never-anointed—Dell (DELL) and Acer, for example—Android Land can be a harsh place. Hardware makers outside the club often follow their rivals to stores by several months, a virtual death sentence in this market.

Google says its procedures are about quality control, fixing bugs early, and building toward a "common denominator" experience, says John Lagerling, director of global Android partnerships at Google. "After that, the customization can begin."

Over the past few months, according to several people familiar with the matter, Google has been demanding that Android licensees abide by "non-fragmentation clauses" that give Google the final say on how they can tweak the Android code—to make new interfaces and add services—and in some cases whom they can partner with. Google's Rubin says that such clauses have always been part of the Android license, but people interviewed for this story say that Google has recently tightened its policies. Facebook, for example, has been working to fashion its own variant of Android for smartphones. Executives at the social network are unhappy that Google gets to review Facebook's tweaks to Android, say two people who weren't comfortable being named talking about the business. Google has also tried to hold up the release of Verizon (VZ) Android devices that make use of Microsoft's (MSFT) rival Bing search engine, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

It's these types of actions that have prompted the gripes to the Justice Dept., says a person with knowledge of the matter. Google spokeswoman Shari Yoder Doherty declined to comment on Google and its partners or any complaints to the government.

Google has also started delaying the release of Android code to the public, putting smaller device makers and developers at a disadvantage. On Mar. 24, Bloomberg Businessweek reported Google won't widely release Honeycomb's source code for the foreseeable future.

The company's moves are hardly unprecedented in such a fast-moving industry. Google owes it to its partners and consumers to prevent Android from running amok. And yet murmurs abound that Android's master has tightened up too much—that its policies limit licensees' ability to differentiate their products. "The premise of a true open software platform may be where Android started, but it's not where Android is going," says Nokia (NOK) Chief Executive Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft executive who recently inked a deal with his former employer instead of Google. He says he did so in part because he thought he would have more opportunity to innovate atop Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 software.

In the PC realm, Microsoft habituated its partners to expect equal access to new versions of Windows. If anything, says Gartner (IT) analyst Michael Gartenberg, the software giant was equal-opportunity to a fault. "Microsoft often got criticized for treating all partners the same, whether they were doing great work or mediocre work," he says. "Google seems to have no problem with playing favorites."

The bottom line: Despite grumblings, Google's Android mobile operating system is still open—it's just getting more heavily policed.

With Ian King and Dina Bass. Vance is a technology writer for Bloomberg Businessweek. Burrows is a senior writer for Bloomberg Businessweek, based in San Francisco.