> Now Android has all the negotiating power. It can create its own browser based on Chromium and charge Google an exorbitant fee for being the default search engine.
Android is code, which anybody can use for free. Making it into a separate entity would cause it to instantly go bankrupt because nobody would have any reason to pay them for anything. Even if they changed the license, everybody would just use the free version from last week and Android Corporation would have no money with which to make improvements, so there would be no improvements for them to charge anything for. Anybody who wanted to try to do this could already fork Android and do it right now; notice the lack of takers.
The reason Samsung et al don't charge Google to be the default browser on their phones already is Google Play Services. So what they really need to separate from the search engine company isn't Android, it's Google Play. Though, of course, if they did that, the search engine company might lose interest in funding Android development.
Android is code, which anybody can use for free. Making it into a separate entity would cause it to instantly go bankrupt because nobody would have any reason to pay them for anything. Even if they changed the license, everybody would just use the free version from last week and Android Corporation would have no money with which to make improvements, so there would be no improvements for them to charge anything for. Anybody who wanted to try to do this could already fork Android and do it right now; notice the lack of takers.
The reason Samsung et al don't charge Google to be the default browser on their phones already is Google Play Services. So what they really need to separate from the search engine company isn't Android, it's Google Play. Though, of course, if they did that, the search engine company might lose interest in funding Android development.