Xiaomi Vice President: Open-sourcing Android is the smartest decision Google has made

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Xiaomi Vice President Hugo Barra was Google's former vice president of Android product management, but he suddenly left the company in 2014. Barra recently gave an exclusive interview to Bloomberg and recalled the good times he had leading the Google Android team.

Bloomberg reporter Emily Chang questioned Android's free business model and asked whether it was the right decision to make it an open source platform. In response, Barra said: "Opening up Android may be the smartest decision Google made many years ago. Of course, this decision will benefit Google for decades."

"I think Android is very smart to be an open platform," Barra said. "It would not have achieved the level of adoption we see today if it was a closed operating system. There is no other way for it to go."

Google provides its Android mobile operating system for free to other smartphone manufacturers, such as Amazon, Samsung, and Xiaomi, which all develop their own smartphones based on the Android platform. By doing so, Android was able to quickly gain the largest market share in the global smartphone market.

Barry also believes that Google will never set up barriers or launch paid services for using Android like Apple did, because it is "unfair" for Google and Android users. He said: "Imagine: What would happen if Android was not an open source platform? This means that people would not have to choose which browser or search engine to use. When you have a closed operating system and it can affect certain behaviors and people, it is unfair, right! It is also unfair to Google and others. For this reason, Android open source is definitely one of the best things that have happened in the technology industry in the past few decades."

That's why Barra and Xiaomi have no interest in building their own mobile operating system. Some mobile companies, such as Samsung, have tried to build their own independent mobile operating systems, but have failed to gain any stickiness. "The reason why we didn't build our own operating system is simply because it doesn't make sense," Barra said. "We can use more engineering power to build more interesting services and help increase the value of Android, and vice versa."