Although Google has done some moves that could allow it to become a player in carrier space, in the current climate it doesn't seem a wise move because of the success of Android.
Given that Android took off better than anticipated, this would be rather risky move for global Android adoption. Carriers still "own" customer contact in most countries. If they decide to be really afraid of Google, they will stop helping Android adoption.
In early 00s, Nokia wasn't that operator friendly compared to other OEMs. This led to situation that operators took less (or didn't take any) Nokia phones to their subsidised selection. This was the main reason for Nokia's bad performance in US.
Then Nokia started licking some juicy carrier butt. Boy it was a shitty time to work in Nokia. Requirement pipe line was filled with all kinds of crazy useless requirements from carriers, and that essentially halted the software development.
They won't do any of the above directly. Carriers don't make phones, but they do market and sell them (because they own the customer). They'll simply refuse to do so for Android phones that aren't neutered in ways acceptable to them.
"Hey Motorola, of course we'll do a big marketing push for the Droid 9000, so long as it complies with our guidelines for handsets on our network. You have made sure users can't install Google Voice, haven't you? What's that? They can install any software they want? Well, maybe we'll just go for that Samsung device instead. See you next product cycle."
Given that Android took off better than anticipated, this would be rather risky move for global Android adoption. Carriers still "own" customer contact in most countries. If they decide to be really afraid of Google, they will stop helping Android adoption.
In early 00s, Nokia wasn't that operator friendly compared to other OEMs. This led to situation that operators took less (or didn't take any) Nokia phones to their subsidised selection. This was the main reason for Nokia's bad performance in US.
Then Nokia started licking some juicy carrier butt. Boy it was a shitty time to work in Nokia. Requirement pipe line was filled with all kinds of crazy useless requirements from carriers, and that essentially halted the software development.