The Google/Motorola purchase is going to test everyone in the smartphone and tablet industry. But it’s also going to test whether Android’s success has come from the strength of the platform itself or if Google was just at the right place at the right time.

Looking back, the conditions for Android’s breakthrough were perfect. Google took advantage of what every other major software company had done in the space, but sidestepped all of their commitments.



smartphone world was overloaded with commitments — to carriers, hardware and sunken strategies. Android didn’t have any of that. It wasn’t just free to use: it was free from history.

Android made no assumptions, so it had, and permitted, maximum freedom. Google could sell an unlocked phone without a carrier. Barnes & Noble could use it to build a custom OS for an e-reader. You could strip it down to make a phone cheap enough to give away, or load it up with specs crazy enough to make fanboys and fangirls drool. Carriers and hardware partners could load it up with whatever pet software they wanted. Everyone involved loved it. Market share soared.

But all that freedom came at a well-known price: fragmentation. Not every piece of hardware could support every version of Android, and versions of Android built for smartphones began powering tablet and media player devices they were never designed to handle. Big players like Amazon realized there was nothing stopping them from selling Android apps. Microsoft and Apple realized there was nothing stopping them from suing hardware makers for patent infringement. Even Blackberry and Palm were on the move, developing competitive next-generation software platforms. Every one of Android’s hundred blooming flowers was just an easy, isolated target.

With Apple now on Verizon and its top phone makers dabbling in WinPhone7, Google had to put lightning back in the bottle. It had to exert more control over its software and its marketplace. It had to buy up patents to protect itself and its partners. And finally, with Motorola, Google went all-in and bought its own hardware company.

Google finally has as many commitments as each of the competitors it undercut along the way.

Now, Google’s advantages are structural, too. Even with Apple blocking products from coming to market and Microsoft extracting tolls, Android is still generally cheaper and more customizable than its competitors. It also has the biggest smartphone user base. This is the good kind of inertia. Developers don’t leave; users don’t switch.

But it does mean that it’s not enough for Android to be the only software company for Samsung, HTC or LG to work with; it’s not enough to offer the best smartphone in the Verizon store.

It’s time for Google to saddle up. It doesn’t just have to make the case that Android is better; it has to make Android better. It has to make Samsung believe that Google is ready to fight harder than Microsoft and Apple for developers, fight harder in court, and fight harder to keep making Android better than any new OS you’ll see this year, next year, or the year after that.

Get on your horse, Google. Get focused. No more excuses. Put on your Keyser Söze face.

Show everyone that it wasn’t an accident that got you here. Show everyone that it’s because you saw what nobody else could see and were willing to do what no one else could do. Show everyone that you’re ready to do it again.

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