In early January, while the rest of the consumer technology world at CES marveled at the sheer size of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy tablet, Google execs were dismayed by what they saw on the screen of the massive 12.1-inch slate – a fancy new user interface called Magazine UX. […] Multiple sources familiar with the companies’ thinking say the two technology giants began hammering out a series of broad agreements at CES that would bring Samsung’s view of Android in line with Google’s own. The results of the talks, which have only just begun dribbling out to the public, also underscore the extent to which Google is exerting more of its influence to control its destiny in the Android open source world.

Dilemma. I don’t like Google exerting control in this manner, but, on the other hand, anything that – for the love of god – makes Samsung stop building its own software for phones is a good thing. Tough call. Then again, this deal may also simply be another aspect of the big patent deal, indicating that this deal is about much more than patents alone.

In any case, the recent renewed collaboration between Google and Samsung seems to indicate that Samsung has little to no intention to move away from Android, and with Samsung still shipping exactly zero Tizen devices, I have little hope we’ll ever see that platform jump front and centre.