The article claims that Google is using some form of "volume licensing" with Android. But how can volume licensing be enforceable when the project is Apache/GPL? Is this an error or is there something I'm not aware of?
Also, I suspect there is some kind of revenue sharing agrement with the use of these apps, so carriers that provide the google branded apps get a cut of related search revenue. This could help keep licensees in line and discourage things like forks or going it on their own with the pure GPL version.