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HTC Unlocks Its Own Phones
itwbennett writes "Having just announced that it would continue to run Android on its best phones, HTC is now 'needling' Google by making good on 'promises it made earlier in the year to deliver bootloader unlock tools for many of its most popular Android phones,' writes blogger Kevin Fogarty. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, HTC CEO Peter Chou said that HTC views unlocked OSes as a way to encourage both ISVs and owners to get more involved developing apps and mods for the phones. Google, which has been trying to lock Android down more, probably doesn't see it that way."
Sure, here you go:
Google indefinitely withholds Android source from non-privileged partners
Google tries to suppress "highly confidential" Android source code in court case
Google memo admits they "use compatibility to make [Android vendors] do what we want"
Shall I go on, or are you and other fans going to robotically repeat the term "FUD" as if that somehow dismisses all facts?
Um, hello? Google has infamously withheld Android source and tried to make more restrictive compatibility requirements for vendors. All of these things have been covered on Slashdot.
Google absolutely, most definitely has been trying to lock Android down more. No offense, but you have an Android app link in your signature, so you have a vested financial interest in Android.
"Most people." You mean Google fans.
The real reason, as has been covered elsewhere (Slashdot submissions about it have been rejected, for some reason), is that Motorola's CEO was proclaiming just this month that his company would be waging a patent war against other Android vendors, during the time they would have been in negotiations with Google. In other words, Motorola strong-armed Google into buying them out rather than simply licensing their patents. The $12 billion is almost two years worth of Google's annual profits. Google was also motivated by the fact that Microsoft was looking into buying Motorola.
Apple isn't "sue-happy." People have been suing them, so they countersue in retaliation. I don't blame them seeing as how most of the Android phones are total rip-offs of the iPhone's hardware and software design. Android phones looked like this before the iPhone came out.