As one door opens another closes. Just as we start to see some opening of the Android and Apple walled gardens Google is making a move to restrict who can create code for Android. 

Even though it has been clear for some time that Google would like more control over Android and regrets ever making it open source, this current move comes as a surprise.

It is clear that Google Play isn't quite as much a closed environment as the Apple App Store, but it is still the subject of law suites to make it easier for users to install apps from alternative app stores. Now Google has announced that any programmer wanting to create programs for official Android systems will have to verify their identity as well as paying $25. This will not involve checking that their app is safe to use, just verifying the identity of the prospective Android programmer. You are also free to distribute your app anyway you like and not just in the Play store - is this more or less restrictive? It certainly feels more restrictive:

Verify your identity

If it all works, and Google believes it will indeed go smoothly, you then you can register any apps:

• You'll need to prove you own your apps by providing your app package name and app signing keys.

An interesting small detail is that the package name has to be unique. This could cause no end of problems in education where students will need to name their packages something different even if it is the same example.

Then there is the very real possibility that Google will leak your identity with the result that any apps with political implications could result in persecution and worse.  There is also the question of how this is going to work with debug builds which are signed using a self-signed certificate generated by Android Studio. Are these to be policed in the same way? If so, this makes Android development difficult, and if not, it makes the whole idea of validation silly. 

The timeline for this change is reasonably long:

Google has at least realized that it needs to do something different for students and hobbyists:

"We're committed to keeping Android an open platform for you to learn, experiment, and build for fun. We recognize that your needs are different from commercial developers, so we're working on a separate type of Android Developer Console account for you."

There are no more details but it is difficult to see how such an accommodation could be made easy-to-use without poking a hole in the tighter security. 

Google operates a very effective monopoly when it comes to Android, which seems to be increasingly effective as time goes on. You might think that with its delicate legal position, Google might try to be more covert about what it is doing. It is extending its tight control beyond apps and onto developers. This isn't acceptable, but needs must and I guess if Android is going to be the only alternative to iOS we will just have to swallow it.

It wouldn't be so bad if they were doing an even slightly acceptable job of providing tools and a decent SDK to make Android development even slightly pleasant. Let us hope that a truly open-source alternative presents itself in the near future - but that doesn't seem remotely likely at the moment. 

More Information

Elevating Android's security to keep it open and safe

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