You're absolutely right. This announcement is all about money more than OS religion.
The expectation and Microsoft's fear was that manufacturers would take the marketing money (i.e. the Win8 subsidy) that Microsoft is paying out the wazoo and hedge OS bets by also including Android. Acer and Asus don't care what OS they run so long as it keeps them in the race against Apple. They're happy to let Microsoft pay them money to market their devices if it means they have to include "apps" (and in this case app := OS).
Microsoft wasn't willing to subsidize devices that run Android because it views Android as a competitor rather than an enemy-of-my-enemy. Given Apple's clear cost advantage, it would have been interesting to see such a Android+Win8+subsidy bet play out. Microsoft might have been able to dislodge marketshare enough during the year that Microsoft comes out ahead next year with SP1. Alas, the business case will slightly less interesting.
The expectation and Microsoft's fear was that manufacturers would take the marketing money (i.e. the Win8 subsidy) that Microsoft is paying out the wazoo and hedge OS bets by also including Android. Acer and Asus don't care what OS they run so long as it keeps them in the race against Apple. They're happy to let Microsoft pay them money to market their devices if it means they have to include "apps" (and in this case app := OS).
Microsoft wasn't willing to subsidize devices that run Android because it views Android as a competitor rather than an enemy-of-my-enemy. Given Apple's clear cost advantage, it would have been interesting to see such a Android+Win8+subsidy bet play out. Microsoft might have been able to dislodge marketshare enough during the year that Microsoft comes out ahead next year with SP1. Alas, the business case will slightly less interesting.