The phrase “as we can be” is remarkable, because it implies that Motorola, which is owned by Google, doesn’t have the power to release phones without custom software on top of it. The RAZR HD is a perfect example: it’s very close to stock Android, but there is a custom skin and some custom Verizon software to be found on it. It’s also shipping with Android 4.0 instead of the latest version, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, though an upgrade is slated for later in the year.
“We are going to have to do some customization,” Osterloh told us. Pressed on whether it was specifically carriers that were the driving force behind the “customization,” Osterloh said that “Our partners sometimes want customizations. […] Our interest is to make it as close to Android as possible and generally we negotiate somewhere in the middle.”