Google to open source Honeycomb's source code soon

BANGALORE, INDIA: Recently, Google Android team was in news for there announcement to put an end to the openness of its Android operating system, which made companies to seek approval from the search engine giant to modify Android, before it is embedded in their handsets.

This announcement created a lot of buzz in the industry, many quoting Android platform has become less open source.

To put an end to on going coverage in the media, Andy Rubin, VP of engineering wrote a post on the Android Developers blog, which said, "Finally, we continue to be an open source platform and will continue releasing source code when it is ready."

He added that, as I write this, the Android team is still hard at work to bring all the new Honeycomb features to phones. As soon as this work is completed, we’ll publish the code. This temporary delay does not represent a change in strategy. We remain firmly committed to providing Android as an open source platform across many device types.

He also made it clear on the issue pertaining to modifying Android by quoting, "As always, device makers are free to modify Android to customize any range of features for Android devices. This enables device makers to support the unique and differentiating functionality of their products."

If someone wishes to market a device as Android-compatible or include Google applications on the device, we do require the device to conform with some basic compatibility requirements, Rubin added.

Andy believes that, the volume and variety of Android devices in the market continues to exceed even our most optimistic expectations. We will continue to work toward an open and healthy ecosystem because we truly believe this is best for the industry and best for consumers.