Schmidt: Android Stays Open

There were some fears that with Google looking to close the purchase of Motorola Mobility soon that Google's openness might suffer. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has reiterated that the purchase of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion will not change the way Google handles or operates the Android OS. The fear from partners was that they would have to compete with Google for licenses and updates.

Reuters quotes Schmidt saying:

"In general, with all of our partners, we told them that the Motorola deal will close and we will run it sufficiently and independently, that it will not violate the openness of Android...we're not going to change in any material way the way we operate."

When asked about the allegations made by Steve jobs and retold in the biography about Jobs that Android stole iOS ideas, Schmidt simply said:

"I've decided not to comment on what's been written on a book after his death. Steve is a fantastic human being and someone who I miss very dearly. As a general comment, I think most people would agree that Google is a great innovator and I would also point out that the Android effort started before the iPhone effort."

Jobs' biography quotes the late tech icon saying he was going to destroy Android claiming it was a stolen product.

[via Reuters]