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Google excels at talking up its openness credentials, especially at the expense of Apple's iPhone, but there is growing unease among developers and consumers at the company's definition of openness. Of course, we only have one device to look at yet, the HTC-made G1, but now it is gaining some traction in the market, there is unease that it is a vehicle for a "Googlesphere", rather than a platform where users choose their applications and experience.

The Google concept does free the user from the operator's walled garden, of course - although that idea was somewhat diluted when the G1 launched as an exclusive with T-Mobile. But the Android platform is open source, and even within the T-Mobile fold, most early users have found their access to the open web restricted only by the technical limitations of the first generation system, notably its lack of support for Flash.

This glaring hole, which of course also mars the iPhone, will be rectified from mid-2009 following last week's agreement between Adobe and Google to put the new version of Flash Player 10 - full blown, but optimized for mobile devices - on to Android devices. This indicates Google's willingness, which it pointedly contrasted with Apple, to embrace de facto standards rather than reinvent the wheel - at least in areas where it still believes it can dominate the environment. In other elements of the web platform that are more vital to the Google business model, it is less ready to support others' technologies, notably in its decision to create its own browser, Chrome.

Indeed, the whole Android project reflects the need for Google to have control and a dominant brand, not just support an existing open platform like LiMO or even open Symbian. Google is getting heavily involved in the actual design of Android handsets, as seen in G1 - and this will be welcome to hard stretched handset designers, even Motorola, during the downturn. In return for easing their load, Google ensures that, like Microsoft, it is able to set its own standards for what is open and what is proprietary.

So, the easiest way to set up an Android handset, in the G1's case at least, is to supply Google account information. The home screen search bar and links connect exclusively to Google services, and there is a one-click access to Gmail, but no support for Microsoft's heavily used Exchange Mail client. Google claims Android's openness means third parties can add Exchange applications, but these are unlikely ever to get home screen prominence. Just as Microsoft used its PC operating system dominance to pick and choose the bundled apps so Google seems to be taking the same line, with rival software like Yahoo buried.

Developers are getting more vocal about the restrictions too, especially Google's often closed lines of communication on software problems or changes. Consumers may not worry about that, but they will get restive if they find that their new phones are as controlling of their web choices and experience as the old operator walled gardens.

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