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Amazon doesn't do this, and ship their own store. What do you think would happen if Samsung forked Android and didn't ship the Play Store? Now app developers wo
by avar 11y ago
Amazon doesn't do this, and ship their own store. What do you think would happen if Samsung forked Android and didn't ship the Play Store? Now app developers would just upload their apps to both stores and Google's power over Android as a whole would be entirely eroded.
So no, they definitely don't get to boss the OEMs around. Unlike Microsoft with Windows they don't get to just say "you can't ship Windows^HAndroid anymore".
They do have a bit of hold over the OEMs in the form of it being a PITA to fork, access to Google's own apps etc. So I'm not saying they have no leverage, but it's a lot less than what Microsoft has, and definitely not enough to say "my way or the highway".
- ocdtrekkie 11y agoThis is why Google cut a deal with Samsung to bring them more in line. (Terms are secret, as usual.) Samsung seemed like it was likely to fork before, and it's probably the only manufacturer large enough to draw app developers with it. So Google did some under the table things. Possibly actually a patent lawsuit threat, given that the deal they announced included a patent sharing arrangement.