Although Android is free and open source, allowing anyone to copy and adapt it, a condition of membership of the OHA is that handsets based on elements of the software must be cross-compatible and able to run the same apps. If Acer was kicked out, its future products could not carry the Android logo and would not have access to the Google Play app store.
“While Android remains free for anyone to use as they would like, only Android compatible devices benefit from the full Android ecosystem,” Google said.