There are a few interesting questions here. My gut reaction was to say, it doesn't restrict access to Android, anyone can fork it at will. But the specific issu

There are a few interesting questions here. My gut reaction was to say, it doesn't restrict access to Android, anyone can fork it at will. But the specific issue they address is Google's suite of Android apps. I know for me as an end user, it's very inconvenient when I don't want to use Google's Android, but still want access to the Google Play Store. If you use Cyanogenmod or other custom apps, you have to download google apps. If you use Amazon's Fire devices, the process is a little more inconvenient. On the one hand you have to wonder whether this harms adoption of third-party Android devices, running Cyanogenmod, FireOS, OxygenOS, or any of a number of other custom Android forks. However, Amazon has become somewhat successful in introducing an alternate app marketplace, and this leads to the other question. Is Google's inclusion of Google apps only on Google android harmful to other app developers? I know personally, if I had a choice between the Google Play Store and the Amazon Appstore, I would choose Google Play 100%. It just has more of the apps I want. But if you want to give users an option, how would you do it? I suppose a scenario similar to what the EU imposed on Microsoft would work, where on activation you would pick from a list of appstores to download to your device. This would at least give users options. I also know personally that I would just stick with the default Maps and Chrome apps if they were bundled with the device instead of giving me a choice of downloading alternate maps and browser apps. This makes it hard for developers of those apps to compete. Ultimately, this just goes to show that you should take the claim that Android is "open" with a grain of salt. Not only is Google restricting access to Android, there's also this troubling bit from the article: >“When we say we’re concerned, it’s not only because [the FTC] didn’t do a good investigation the first time around, or the fact that they didn’t protect the confidentiality of the people who complained," Reback said, “but also because they seem to take directions from Google.”