The key for Google, he said, is to continue making Android open source and welcoming to developers. "As long as we can do whatever we want on a tablet, I think it's a big step in the right direction," Lee said.

Apple has been criticized for tethering the iPhone and iPad to its own application and media distribution services, preventing users from accessing content not approved by Apple. Google has taken a different approach with Android, allowing installation of third-party applications, and even a second app store built by Amazon. But when the first version of Android optimized for tablets wasn't released under an open source license.

Google said Tuesday that by the end of this year it will release a single version of Android for both smartphones and tablets and that it will be fully open source.

"I guess I'm a typical nerd in that I fully support open source," Lee said. "Having everything out there definitely helps."

Google said the openness of Android will let developers build things even Google engineers aren't capable of dreaming up. In the future, Android will integrate with home systems. Beyond just turning light switches on and off, a video game could become an immersive experience in which actions in the game trigger lights and sound from the speaker system in a user's home. But Google also seems to want to turn Android into a platform that can automate the various tasks required to run a household, and control appliances remotely.