Google CEO Sundar Pichai counters in a new blog post that the remedies that the European Commission proposes would be detrimental to the Android ecosystem and to consumers. In fact, he reasons that un-bundling Google apps and services will lead to actual licensing fees for Android.
The free distribution of the Android platform, and of Google’s suite of applications, is not only efficient for phone makers and operators—it’s of huge benefit for developers and consumers. If phone makers and mobile network operators couldn’t include our apps on their wide range of devices, it would upset the balance of the Android ecosystem. So far, the Android business model has meant that we haven't had to charge phone makers for our technology, or depend on a tightly controlled distribution model.
We are concerned that today’s decision will upset the careful balance that we have struck with Android, and that it sends a troubling signal in favor of proprietary systems over open platforms.
There are always two sides to every story, and Pichai vigorously defends Google. Pichai of course proclaims Google's innocence and says that Android has been extremely beneficial to consumers and app developers around the globe. He also makes a play to the European Union directly, pointing out that Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish and Swedish Android OEMs have all benefited from hardware sales thanks to the Android operating system.