Is Android Really Open Source?

Recently VisionMobile published a report called The Open Governance Index. It looked at the relative openness of Android, Qt, Symbian, MeeGo, Mozilla, WebKit, Linux, and Exclipse.  The report suggests that Android’s success has less to do with open source licensing and more to do with Google’s financial power.

In an almost conclusive tone, the report states that Google’s size, a huge amount of marketing dollars from carriers and vendors, and the need to counter Apple are all more responsible for Android’s success than the actual OS or the open source licensing.

“Android would not have risen were it not for the billions of dollars that OEMs and network operators poured into Android in order to compete with Apple’s iconic devices,” the firm wrote. “As Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO, said in June, 2011, ‘Apple created the conditions necessary for Android.’ (bgr.com, 2011).

Here is a copy of the infographic from visionmobile.com. Be sure to head over to BGR.com to read the entire article by Zach Epstein on December 13th, 2011.