If you think simply buying a Google Android device is going to set you free from closed ecosystems like the Apple iPhone and App Store combo, think again.

Carriers are already showing signs of taking advantage of the devices on their networks that aren’t explicitly locked to any particular mobile OS, and Android seems to be the most likely target.

Why? Google shares its technologies with the world – in this case, any hardware maker that wants to play – in the interest of driving advertising dollars, while Apple develops superior interfaces from hardware to software because that’s their primary focus.

If interface development is simply a handout for the world and means to and end and hardware is a latch on, who has control?  In the mobile world, barring any specific agreement requiring these two not be decoupled are altered in any way, the carrier.

This is the pecking order that resulting in carrier control and a lack of innovation in the mobile device industry – at least until Apple came on the scene.  And it will continue unabated if consumers aren’t careful.

Choose wisely.  More here: AT&T won’t allow unsigned Android apps on the Dell Aero? Might alter phone operating system longer term?.