Tl;dr:  Android is open sourced, Google Play services are not.  Licenses for manufacturers to preinstall the proprietary Google Play app require them to also to preinstall Google search.<p>Android manufacturers aren&#x27;t forced to preinstall Play services.  Users can still uninstall either Play, search, or any number of the preinstalled manufacturer apps (which aren&#x27;t locked by manufacturers), right?  How is this different than if Google made just one app for play <i>and</i> search?