Google 24/7 points to an interview Andy Rubin gave to PCMagazine. They write:

From the interview at PCMag:

PCMag: On Monday, Microsoft is announcing their first Windows Phone 7 phones. What do you think of that platform as a competitor?

Rubin: I think the screen shots I've seen are interesting, but look, the world doesn't need another platform. Android is free and open; I think the only reason you create another platform is for political reasons. Why doesn't the whole world run with [Android]? They don't like the people who developed, or "not invented here," but [Android] is a successful, complete, vertically integrated free platform. I encourage everybody to use it, but I'm also not under the impression that everybody will use it, which is a good thing, because competition is good for the consumer and if somebody has an an idea for a feature or a piece of functionality in their platform and Android doesn't do it, great.

It will be interesting to see if the world does indeed need Windows Phone 7, which launches next week. Reviews have been mixed but there is no doubt that Microsoft (MSFT) is spending unheard of amounts of money to market their new product. I have a feeling that Rubin misspoke a bit there and he backtracked toward the end. Still, an interesting perspective.

Check the whole interview here.

Dear Andy, Like world needs Gmail alongside Hotmail, like world needs Facebook alongside Orkut, like world needs Bing alongside Google Search… the World needs Windows Phone besides Android and iPhone. Competition makes the world a better place. You please carry on the innovations, remember it’s always Survival of the fittest. Cheers !!