I don't think Google have any incentive to control the mobile OS experience, and they largely don't and are incapable of doing it anyway.
It doesn't matter if people are going to Google's ad-supported services via Android, iOS, Symbian, or Blackberry (or others) - and as long as at least some of these platforms have a focus on the end user experience it creates attention for mobile services which Google will benefit from.
People will see things like Google Maps on an iPhone and try it on their own phone, even if they're not using an iOS device.
And even if Google wanted to control the user experience in the same way as Apple, they simply can't: Android's open nature means that the networks and device manufacturers are free to screw around with it in any way they please, up to and including pushing their own partner's online products over Google's.
Mobile phone networks have a very long tradition of cutting off their nose to spite their face, and Android's openness unfortunately can give them a bigger knife.
Google has as much ability to dictate their App marketplace as Apple. They've strayed away from such practices because they realize the dictation of applications begins to devolve into a very bigotry-riddled process which ultimately hinders development and innovation. Google could suffer greatly if one day Apple decides to ban or suppress their apps within the App Store due to competitive reasons.
Android devices don't even have to include the Google app marketplace. A manufacturer or network can put their own marketplace on the device instead, which makes it pretty much like every pre-iOS smartphone platform (at least in that regard).
I don't think that any single manufacturer has the leverage to tell the networks to stay out of the device OS and just be dumb bit transporters. I suppose Nokia could do it, but the idea's pretty unthinkable for those guys.
It doesn't matter if people are going to Google's ad-supported services via Android, iOS, Symbian, or Blackberry (or others) - and as long as at least some of these platforms have a focus on the end user experience it creates attention for mobile services which Google will benefit from.
People will see things like Google Maps on an iPhone and try it on their own phone, even if they're not using an iOS device.
And even if Google wanted to control the user experience in the same way as Apple, they simply can't: Android's open nature means that the networks and device manufacturers are free to screw around with it in any way they please, up to and including pushing their own partner's online products over Google's.
Mobile phone networks have a very long tradition of cutting off their nose to spite their face, and Android's openness unfortunately can give them a bigger knife.