In what sense is Android "free" right now? Android—by which I mean the Android a consumer would recognise and expect—hasn't been "free" in any sense of the word for quite some time.
Possibly never. I recall some tech bloggers voicing puzzlement when early Android tablets didn't ship with Marketplace installed. Thing is that at the time Google insisted that all Android devices had to be fitted with a mobile network radio. End result was that they basically handed Apple the first runner advantage in the tablet market.
