Embrace extend works for markets and technologies not so much for operating systems. Nobody has done well embracing and extending Android, those who tried such as Samsung are throwing in the towel because of...

...wait for it...

...you know it's coming...

...vendor lock-in.

I think the article gives Android too much credit for mindshare. Sure it's a platform for developers (this is why the monkey boy criticism of Ballmer makes no sense) but it's not really a brand among consumers. In consumer minds, Android is simply not an iPhone and increasingly not a Windows Phone. All that manufacturer and carrier customization erodes the idea of Android. In so far as Android is a brand, it's Google, not Andorid. But the primary brand of an Android phone is the Phone's manufacturer. Doing Apple on the cheap doesn't work.