Ars Technica has an interesting article about how “Android is open—except for all the good parts”, which they’ve been making proprietary.
It’s a warning to developers who integrate with proprietary Google APIs — maps APIs, cloud messaging, location APIs, in-app purchasing, “Play Games” API. When they embrace Google’s great APIs, it makes it more difficult to port to Kindle Fire and other Android derivatives.
My overall feeling is that Google gives users more freedom with Android than Apple gives users with iPhone/iOS. (Sidenote: In spite of that, I like iOS slightly better).
Closing the good parts doesn’t mean there’s no competition — there’s still iPhone and Windows Phone.