The tricky bit is that they are giving a crap ton of code and services away to consumers/customers, while taking payment from other companies for better references etc.
In a sense it can be likened to the drug dealer classic "the first dose is free".
There is also Ara. While one the surface it seems to break down the old consumer facing problems with mobile devices, there is no indication that Google will give up control over the endoskeletons that the modules attach to. Heck, they may set themselves up as sole distributor of modules. Even go as far as tracking modules, under the guise of disabling them if stolen.
Nothing is a giveaway. It's all in exchange for your data, which is what they are profiting off of.
And yes, Ara was an awesome Motorola project that Google will now ruin with walled garden design. The endoskeleton is not intended to be third party-able.
Do you have any evidence that Motorola was going to just give away Ara and not own the ecosystem? You know, the company that was hemorrhaging money and teetering on bankruptcy wasn't going to try and own the IP of the endoskeleton and charge for access to it?
In a sense it can be likened to the drug dealer classic "the first dose is free".
There is also Ara. While one the surface it seems to break down the old consumer facing problems with mobile devices, there is no indication that Google will give up control over the endoskeletons that the modules attach to. Heck, they may set themselves up as sole distributor of modules. Even go as far as tracking modules, under the guise of disabling them if stolen.