Lack of manufacturer interest killed off Android Silver

The fate of Android Silver appears to be getting increasingly bleak. Reports about the fate of the programme have been conflicting, with some claiming that it had been put on hold, while other stated that it had only been delayed. It’s now being reported that lack of manufacturer interest may put the final nail in the coffin.

According to sources who spoke to Re/code, manufacturers who use Android didn’t want to sacrifice their own customisable interface in order for Google to implement a more closed one-size-fits-all operating system.

The purpose of Android Silver was to create a universal Android operating system in order to deal with the software fragmentation that has been knocking around for quite some time. Now that the project has reportedly been shelved, Google is apparently looking into other ways for phone makers to adopt a universal Android standard.

What those plans might involve are unknown, so we’ll just have to wait for Google to make some official announcements. I wouldn’t expect anything anytime soon, however.

Tom Pritchard