it seems most people here are have less then adequate knowledge about android.
android as system is one of the most versatile OS currently in the market, the current ICS 4.04 version of the OS can run on nearly all the devices in the market, i know this because I run it on a measly Huwei Ideos u8150.(T-mobile Comet). it runs just fine, and the specs are a miserly 600mhz CPU, 256mb ram.
so if the so called OEMS are feeling threatened by the Googrola model then its their own damn fault... they could have made sure that all the phones introduced in 2011 should have been updated by march at the latest. did they do that? hell no, they want to sell new devices based on ICS and want the people who spent hard earned money on their phones to throw that phone away . each and every device introduced in 2010 meets the minimum requirements for an ICS update, but that does not mean that they should be updated. but 2011 devices should have been updated by now. it shows a commitment by the company to their customers , that they do care about you.(apple did update iphone 4 to ios 5. even thought the update was missing some features but still they did update it.)
so if any company wants to compete with apple then they have to learn somethings from apple. the best possible future proof hardware wont sell with a old software. but a current market hardware with latest software will sell. all the android OEMs have introduced LTE devices way before apple did, but apple sold more LTE devices then all of them combined in just a few weeks. WHY? because Apple waited for the LTE network to be a more then marginal network....
as for Google/Motorola fear mongering by other OEMS, well they do deserve it.
with Motorola's manufacturing and Google's software capabilities I see a apple model in the making , but that doesn't mean that Google will abandon the current partners .. IT cant abandon them period. if it does then it faces a host of law suits that Motorola's patent bank wont be able to fight off.
what i see happening is Google will provide equal opportunity to everyone at its source code.
meaning the Android source code will remain available to everyone equally.
but it will use Motorola to create its nexus devices and make them way better then what is available currently. these devices will compete and strike where they are actually needed , in the apple's core.
if you give me a choice on buying a apple device and a nexus device , nexus wins hands on.
i have a nexus s . its a phone introduced in late 2010. but when i got the current ICS 4.04 update on it , it blew off all the previous complaints , because it gives me the latest software on the current market standard hardware. and it works wonderfully.
i don't need to replace my phone for at-least 1 year more.
and for all those whiners who keep complaining about lack of updates for their devices ,
just go and root your damned devices, otherwise get off the Android scene and go buy a fruit...