Google says its procedures are about quality control, fixing bugs early, and building toward a "common denominator" experience, says John Lagerling, director of global Android partnerships at Google. "After that, the customization can begin."

Over the past few months, according to several people familiar with the matter, Google has been demanding that Android licensees abide by "non-fragmentation clauses" that give Google the final say on how they can tweak the Android code—to make new interfaces and add services—and in some cases whom they can partner with. Google's Rubin says that such clauses have always been part of the Android license, but people interviewed for this story say that Google has recently tightened its policies. Facebook, for example, has been working to fashion its own variant of Android for smartphones.

Remember the story about the frog placed in cold water that is slowly heated. It fails to perceive the imminent danger it faces, until suddenly, irreversibly, it will be cooked to death.

Flash forward to the present, and there is Google with a pan full of water called Android. Sitting in that pan is the "frog," a device maker, such as HTC, Samsung, and Motorola.

Cold once meant open, out in the wild. Then it mean cold-ish, conflicting rules, favorites, but generally, untethered access.

Now, it's starting to get warm, with open suddenly meaning closed "for the foreseeable future" in the case of Android, and Google-defined policies on what constitutes fragmentation.

Someday soon, Google will tell device makers how much money they can make, what must be bundled, and what can't be, all in the name of building a better user experience.

But, the frog won't care by then for he'll be floating dead in the bubbling water.

The sad part is that the hardware-centric, software-blind device makers are only too happy to turn over control of their own stasis to Google, who will only be too happy to decide what is best for...Google.

Related:

• Open "ish": The meaning of open, according to Google
• Different Game, New Rules: Why Google is blocking access to Honeycomb source code
• Do not anger the Alpha Android (BusinessWeek)