During a Q&A session at the Miliken Institute’s Global Conference 2012, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson discussed the wireless industry for well over an hour, but it was his comment about Android updates that really caught our attention. In fact, Stephenson places the slow pace of Android updates largely on Google’s shoulders calling it “an issue.” In response to a question from the audience, Stephenson went even further saying “Google kind of determines what platform gets the newest releases and when. Often times that’s a negotiated arrangement, and so that’s something we work at hard. We know that it’s important to our customers.”

As one might expect, someone at Google went “nuh uh” telling 9to5Google that:

“Mr. Stephenson’s carefully worded quote caught our attention and frankly we don’t understand what he is referring to. Google does not have any agreements in place that require a negotiation before a handset launches.  Google has always made the latest release of Android available as open source at source.android.com as soon as the first device based on it has launched. This way, we know the software runs error-free on hardware that has been accepted and approved by manufacturers, operators and regulatory agencies such as the FCC. We then release it to the world.”

Randall Stephenson is once again acting like a deer in headlights when it comes to the intricacies of his own business. Someone needs a PR person with them at all times…cough *AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson* cough.

You can see the interview below.

9to5Google