FUD-killer
Andy Rubin, the overall head of Android at Google, has felt moved to comment on all the commentary about Android, fragmentation, and what Google is doing about it.
He clearly feels there is a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) flying around, directly alluding to it in a blog post entitled ‘I think I'm having a Gene Amdahl moment (http://goo.gl/7v4kf)', with the link opening the Wikipedia page on FUD - a term coined by Amdahl.
Rubin wasted little time in giving his assessment on the recent coverage. "Recently, there's been a lot of misinformation in the press about Android and Google's role in supporting the ecosystem," he wrote, vowing to set the record straight.
There followed some reasonably standard corporate stuff about how great Android and its ecosystem is, but Rubin was quick to stress he doesn't believe in a ‘one size fits all' solution. He thinks it's great that there's such diversity in devices and use-cases, but stressed that "quality and consistency continue to be top priorities."
Addressing the suggestion that Google is exercising increasing direct control over the platform, he conceded that there are some basic compatibility requirements, and that there is an anti-fragmentation programme, but that these have been in place for some time. "Our approach remains unchanged: there are no lock-downs or restrictions against customizing UIs," blogged Rubin. "There are not, and never have been, any efforts to standardize the platform on any single chipset architecture."
Rubin concluded by stressing that Android will continue to be an open source platform, and revealed that his team is working on publishing code that will bring Honeycomb features to phones (as opposed to tablets).
By referring so directly to FUD and misinformation, Rubin is suggesting some journalists are having their ears whispered in by Android's rivals - of which Apple springs first to mind. That may be the case, but there are also legitimate concerns from developers and end-users regarding fragmentation and the Android Market. It would be nice to see a Rubin blog addressing these too.
