Nokia’s CEO, Stephen Elop, said Google is closing its once open ecosystem as Android faces increased fragmentation. Elop was discussing the company’s 4th quarter earnings at a press conference when the topic turned to Google. Elop said, “The situation that Android is facing, where the amount of fragmentation that you’re seeing is increasing as people take it in different directions, is of course offset by Google’s efforts to turn an open ecosystem into something that’s quite a bit more closed as you’ve seen quite recently.”

Elop is not alone in his critique of Google’s recent “openness” decisions. Earlier this month Google blocked Windows Phone users from accessing Google Maps via the browser but later restored access. Google has also announced it will drop support for Exchange ActiveSync which Microsoft uses to offer push email for Gmail users on Windows Phone. iOS devices also use ActiveSync but they’ll still be able to get push email via Google’s Gmail app for iOS. Google released Maps for iOS but has said it will not develop apps for Windows 8. It’s unclear whether Google is actually moving toward a closed ecosystem but there is little doubt they are playing hardball when it comes to Microsoft and, by extension, Nokia.

Source: The Verge