I remember being at the first meeting of OHA companies at the Googleplex. I don't recall the meeting going as a democratic group of companies banded together to change the world. We were all subcontractors helping Andy Rubin get the project launched.
This article neglects a large piece of the history of the project. Don't bother reading it.
Saurik's techradar link is a good one, considering it was written shortly after the OHA announcement was made.
The thing to remember was that iPhone had just been announced and everything was about to change radically. Even in this 2007-2008 timeframe everything was about the mobile web. Google's intent for Android - as it was explained to us - was to get the rest of the planet that didn't own a PC into a mobile device that they could use to see the web...and see Google's advertising by consequence. There was no App Store yet. Even Apple was trying to get everyone to do their apps in Safari, remember?
This article neglects a large piece of the history of the project. Don't bother reading it.