Google has always allowed Android manufacturers to make their own customizations to the software that powers their smartphones and tablets but now evidence has surfaced which reveals that the company is tightening requirements for manufacturing partners that want to build Android devices. Confidential documents obtained by The Information show that since Google wants the Android experience to be more consistent across all the different devices available it wants manufacturers to pre-load more of its apps and position them in prominent places.
The report claims that this has been a frequent point of contention “particularly between Google and Samsung.” It goes without saying that Samsung is Google's biggest hardware partner and it is known for making customizations like TouchWiz and placing its own native apps more prominently as opposed to the apps by Google.
The contract, called Mobile Application Distribution Agreement, will reportedly now require manufacturers to pre-load 20 Google apps on their devices, that's up from nine back in 2011. The agreement also requires that a Google search widget be available as default on the homescreen apart from icons for Google Play store and a separate Google icon which contains 13 applications such as Chrome, Maps, YouTube, Gmail and others.
If manufacturers have agreed to adhere by this agreement then we should start seeing less customization and more of a consistent experience across different devices as far as Google's products and services are concerned. Whether or not it will be received positively by customers remains to be seen.
