I don’t understand why Google didn’t just made Android closed source. They would’ve made custom roms impossible and therefore more able to control and spy on it’s users. Why did Google made Android open source, while Microsoft’s Windows is still closed source to this day?
I remember too that google had to pivot HARD and FAST! They got blindsided by iOS and the initial iPhone. There’s a video of the original google phone OS that was a project in development and I remember people getting excited about. But then the iPhone was released, and google had to quickly pivot to a whole new paradigm for touch screen and virtual keyboards. My guess is it was an initial exploration project that they just had to lean into hard and did t have time to convert to proprietary implementations or they were just using what was readily available. It really is a wonder that androind was able to compete with iOS so quickly.
Probably it’s only due to people like me that refuse to be extorted by Apple Inc. Instead I’m extorted by Google, but at least it’s not Apple.