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They could, but you would then have something like a Kindle Fire, or the touchscreen thingy in a new car: something that runs the same code as Android, but does

They could, but you would then have something like a Kindle Fire, or the touchscreen thingy in a new car: something that runs the same code as Android, but doesn't run Google apps. As far as a consumer is concerned, this isn't Android at all.

Hydraulix989 10y ago
I'm confused, you can download and install Google Apps for Cyanogenmod. Is it a licensing issue?
- bitmapbrother 10y ago
  I think you mean Lineage OS as CyanogenMod is no longer. Google doesn't really care about Lineage OS because their install base is insignificant. There was a time when CyanogenMod started preinstalling Google Apps on their OS, but Google told them to stop doing it so now they just install it separately after installing the OS.
  - 0x0 10y ago
    The closed-source Google Play Services and the Google APIs ecosystem is Google's single life-line to stay somewhat in control of Android. They have been moving more and more core Android stuff into these closed source libraries and making sure the convenience offered to developers is too good to refuse. This all happened circa Android 4.x. They must have realized they were giving away the farm for free to OEMs and so almost all new Android innovation is now implemented in the Google APIs SDK + Google Chrome. Good for google, sucks for AOSP OEMs and developers who just like to look at the source code of the libraries&system apps that they interface with. Android developers got lazy and started adding heavy gapi dependencies in almost every app, so much so that OEMs need to support this and the Google Play Store to stay relevant, at least at this moment. If Samsung, for example, started implementing a Google Play Services compatible shim, then there would be a pretty big power shift overnight. Heck, reimplementing other companies' APIs is par for the course on Android (oracle's java cough cough)

Hydraulix989 10y ago

I'm confused, you can download and install Google Apps for Cyanogenmod. Is it a licensing issue?

bitmapbrother 10y ago
I think you mean Lineage OS as CyanogenMod is no longer. Google doesn't really care about Lineage OS because their install base is insignificant. There was a time when CyanogenMod started preinstalling Google Apps on their OS, but Google told them to stop doing it so now they just install it separately after installing the OS.
- 0x0 10y ago
  The closed-source Google Play Services and the Google APIs ecosystem is Google's single life-line to stay somewhat in control of Android. They have been moving more and more core Android stuff into these closed source libraries and making sure the convenience offered to developers is too good to refuse. This all happened circa Android 4.x. They must have realized they were giving away the farm for free to OEMs and so almost all new Android innovation is now implemented in the Google APIs SDK + Google Chrome. Good for google, sucks for AOSP OEMs and developers who just like to look at the source code of the libraries&system apps that they interface with. Android developers got lazy and started adding heavy gapi dependencies in almost every app, so much so that OEMs need to support this and the Google Play Store to stay relevant, at least at this moment. If Samsung, for example, started implementing a Google Play Services compatible shim, then there would be a pretty big power shift overnight. Heck, reimplementing other companies' APIs is par for the course on Android (oracle's java cough cough)