Android Isn’t Fragmented Says Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
As Android continues to heat up, so do the claims of the mobile operating system from Google being fragmented, among other things. Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman at Google, spoke at CES and denied that fragmentation existed with the Android ecosystem.
Now, the company has and continues to do better in that aspect. Android 4.0 is supposed to change that and give a unified experience across all devices, though in the past and still currently, fragmentation exists.
There’s all sorts of different versions on smartphones as of right now, many devices not getting updated and/or stuck with an older version, and so on. Either way, let’s give Eric the chance to explain.
“When CNET host Molly Wood asked Schmidt specifically about Android fragmentation, Schmidt denied Android had any, explaining that Android had “differentiation.” Schmidt explained the difference thusly; differentiation means OEMs will choose how to customize an open-source platform such as Android based on their view of innovation.”
“Fragmentation, he said, occurs when applications only run on one device but not others, locking users out of consuming those apps. Wood asked whether some of that was happening with Android. Schmidt denied this, adding that Google’s goal is to get everybody on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which merges the Android 2.x smartphone branch and the Android 3.x Honeycomb branch for tablets.”
It seems Google is trying to put the issue of fragmentation behind them and push forward with, again, a much more unified experience with Android. Oops, did I say fragmentation again? I really mean’t “differentiation”.
