What Google really means when it calls Android 'open'

Is Android fully open? Well, no, but quasi-open gets most developers to exactly where they want to be.

(Credit: CNET) The gooey center of Google's pitch to developers to make apps and services for Android is a series of terms easily misunderstood, but central to Android's flexibility and success.
Every once in a while, Android terminology discussions flare up like a stomach ulcer for Google. They center on Android's nature as a development platform, which in turn affects the variety and breadth of Android apps -- from Minecraft to Pandora to the latest Flappy Bird copycats -- that you can download, and how up-to-date they are. Is Android truly open-source? Can you "fork" Android? What does Google mean when it talks about Android's "openness"?
The latest debate was sparked by recently discovered documents that reveal stringent restrictions on device makers that want access to Google's search engine, the video service YouTube, and more than a million apps found in the Google Play app store. European antitrust authorities are looking at whether Google has unfairly taken advantage of Android's position to push its own services and apps, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"The question of how you define 'openness' depends on what you want 'openness' to mean."
--Avi Greengart, analyst

The source, if you will, of Android's problems is its "open source" nature and a fundamental misunderstanding of what Google is doing with Android. So let's take a look at what we're really talking about when we talk about "open source" and "openness."
Openness is both a lure for developers, who want to create freely, and a trap that Google has built for itself. It's a term that the company uses to describe its approach to Android, but because it's a fairly common term it's come to mean different things to different people. As such, it's highly dependent on their interests.
"The question of how you define 'openness' depends on what you want 'openness' to mean," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "Do you want to be part of the process to define the software from the outset? Do you want to create a phone that exemplifies the best of Android and Google services together?"
Google's approach to Android development and the Android ecosystem promotes an atypical definition of the terms. The easier one to explain is how Android relates to open source.
Historically, open source coding projects large and small have been developed and managed by communities open to all. Firefox and Linux are prime examples of that. The Android Open Source Project, or AOSP, is the Android code made available to all.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57618902-94/what-google-really-means-when-it-calls-android-open/