@ragnar

It could be as simple as this:

Google wants revenue from an app ecosystem. So, they want to attract developers by trying to control the middle to upper layers of the OS. No one wants an IE 6 fiasco, users or developers. The hardware manufacturers won't see a dime from that app ecosystem as far as I can tell, yet they know that brand loyalty through differentiation helps create larger profit margins [see Apple]. I'm not sure if it's even legal, but Google should give them a piece to create some peace.