Over the past few years there has been grumbling among some that Google needs to stop calling Android open source. The argument is a simple one: Google can call Android open source as long as it doesn’t place any requirements on its OEMs to use Android. This article will unpack some of the misconceptions about what it means to say that Android is open source and deal with the two major instances where Google has been accused of violating its own principles concerning Android. 

If today’s rumor is true, and Google does plan to unveil the next Nexus phone in October, then I can’t help but start putting together a list of features I hope to see. To be honest though, my list isn’t huge, however, there are some things I must have in order for me to feel really good about purchasing this phone. Because after all, I will be purchasing this phone, no matter what. Overall, I really just want Google to take pride in hardware for once, along with focusing on the bells and whistles of software. 

Back in January of this year I reviewed the state of Android manufacturers up to that point. In January Samsung was the only major Android OEM that was making any money on Android phones. HTC had posted its first quarterly profit decline in two years while Motorola continued its financial decline amidst regulatory approval of Google’s then-proposed, now-approved purchase of the manufacturer. How is the ecosystem doing nine months into the year?

With Apple’s new iPhone event taking place in just a few hours, this may be coming too late for it to change anything, but that isn’t really the point. I’ve been really pondering lately what Apple could do with the iPhone 5 to make even me excited, a jaded Android user who doesn’t get stoked about 4″ displays, 4G LTE, or even quad-core processors anymore. NFC technology? Yeah, I’ve had that since the Nexus S and still hardly ever use it. But as many would argue, the iPhone 5 will still somehow be magical and sell millions and millions of units becoming the new “industry standard” for every OEM and your friends to compare every new and old device to. 

Today may have been all about forked Android new Kindle Fires, but for whatever reason, I’m still thinking about the event that went down yesterday, from Motorola. There were all sorts of interesting story lines to pay attention to. We had the first ever product announcement by new CEO Dennis Woodside, some of us hoping for a surprise or two, and then a mention that this was a “new Motorola” that would return to caring about customers. It was a lot to process, but I came away with some opinions and wanted to share. 

Android used to be the go to option for OEMs fleeing Windows Mobile in search of relevancy in the mobile space, but lately it seems that unless you’re Samsung or Apple you simply cannot make money in mobile. Samsung has been the only Android manufacturer to consistently make money quarter after quarter for the past year. Motorola’s profits plummeted quarter after quarter until Google bought the entire company. HTC has managed to sell a sizable number of devices, but has fallen from being the top Android manufacturer to an equal of LG and Sony. While no Android OEMs pay Google to use Android, most pay Microsoft licensing fees. What is making Samsung successful while other OEMs continue to struggle? 

Samsung copied Apple. There really isn’t another way to put it. Samsung didn’t copy Apple in every conceivable way, but when you compare several of their phones to the iPhone, it’s clear that Samsung wanted their hardware and software to resemble that of Apple’s iPhone.

It’s easy for Android supporters to want to defend Samsung, but the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of Apple’s argument: Samsung realized that it needed to copy Apple to get ahead in the smartphone space. In terms of what this means for the lawsuit seems trivial, but there are deeper issues at stake. How did Samsung copying Apple damage the Android ecosystem as a whole and why should you care?

With the release of the Nexus 7, Google set its sights on Amazon to try and reclaim control of the Android tablet space. Ever since Amazon forked Android for the Kindle Fire there has been some confusion about what OEM software customization means. There seems to be some confusion in the industry about what TouchWiz and Sense really are. More and more often I have seen articles arguing that the Galaxy S III and the Kindle Fire offer the same non-Google experience. Even more shocking, I’ve heard arguments that AOSP is Android and the Nexus line of phones offers the “Google experience.” The question isn’t whether or not OEMs offer a Google experience (they do); the question is if they’ll keep a Google experience.