The whole point of Android from Google's perspective was to give them the ability to control search on mobile without having to buy their way in like they did o

The whole point of Android from Google's perspective was to give them the ability to control search on mobile without having to buy their way in like they did on the Windows desktop and they do on iOS. Every year Google spends hundreds of millions of dollars to Apple, Mozilla, Dell, HP, etc. to be the default search provider, have their toolbar installed, have Chrome be the default, or whatever way they want to be the search default, and it is worth every penny, but owning their own platform in Android means they control their own destiny on the future computing platform - phones, tablets, tv's, and other embedded computing systems. Fragmentation is not a problem because Google still is the primary Android services provider. If Samsung or HTC started doing what Amazon is doing and selling Android phones without Google apps and search as a default, then Google's in trouble. Google's biz model is to give away Android for free, but make up for it in money from the Play market, mobile ads, and mobile search.