Google VP of engineering Andy Rubin has responded to recent media reports regarding Google’s commitment to end fragmentation on Android and the delay of the release of Android 3.0 source code to the public in a new blog post. The blog post reiterates that the anti-fragmentation measures which have been the crux of the reports have been in place since the founding of the Open Handset Alliance and the release of Android 1.0 and have not changed.
The post also goes on to attempt reassuring developers that the delay in releasing Android Honeycomb is not a shift in release patterns for source code and that Honeycomb source is still being completed while there will be no effort made in standardizing hardware or eliminating the option of custom user interfaces for manufacturers. Rubin also confirmed that work was being done to bring major Honeycomb features to phones, suggesting that smartphones and tablets running on Android will have two separate update tracks that will correspond to device class and converge in the future after the release of the next major Android smartphone update.
