The title says it all.

Google's services have never been linked to specific hardware.

In fact, there are iPhone and iPad ports for Android to be installed on those dedicated platforms. So the possibility exists at least, regardless of what Apple has to say about it.

Google's approach is why, in the long run, it is more likely to succeed in the corporate place as it has with the consumer smartphone market already. Diversity wins out over the paternalistic, closed approach.

As for Apple's "increasing influence over the consumer market", that holds true only for the tablet sector, and even that isn't a given, once one actually looks at the market trends instead of the marketing spiel.