I get the feeling Google is using the same strategy Microsoft used against Apple in the late 1980's. They seem to want to create a market of shovelware in an effort to simply damage Apple's marketshare rather than creating truly unique products.
The same strategy may fail them again. I certainly would never have even looked at a mac laptop if it were as locked down as iOS is. Although people often argue that mobile products are different, I disagree. They are simply small form factor computers and you need look no farther than Android to see that an operating system as flexible as a desktop OS works just fine in this area.
In this sense, it is every bit as open as desktop operating systems traditionally are.