Google, Samsung Tensions Ease

The sometimes frosty relationship between Google and Samsung Electronics, the two dominant companies in the Android mobile ecosystem, showed signs of thawing.

Samsung claimed two prominent mentions during the keynote presentation at Google's annual developer conference: one for a new smartwatch that will use Google software, the other for security technology that Google will incorporate in a new version of its Android mobile operating system. In recent years, such partnerships looked less likely amid tensions between Google and some of the hardware manufacturers that make Android smartphones, tablets and other gadgets.