Can Android really be considered “open”?

It’s the open way of doing mobile… only it isn’t. Google let’s you do everything that you could possibly want… except some of the most important things that you want. Where does Android really fit into a software classification?

Six years ago, in November 2007, the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) was announced. The original iPhone came out just a few months earlier, capturing people’s imaginations and ushering in the modern smartphone era. While Google was an app partner for the original iPhone, it could see what a future of unchecked iPhone competition would be like. Vic Gundotra, recalling Andy Rubin’s initial pitch for Android, stated: