4 ms·
To be honest, I think Google has LG, HTC, Sony, Nokia, Lenovorola, and almost every other Android manufacturer in the pocket here. These companies don't have th
by DCKing 9y ago
To be honest, I think Google has LG, HTC, Sony, Nokia, Lenovorola, and almost every other Android manufacturer in the pocket here. These companies don't have the capabilities to independently make a competitive OS and app ecosystem and will have to comply with Google wherever it goes. With the exception of LG, all of these companies have even significantly dialed down their efforts to customize Android from AOSP or "Google's Android flavour" (that ships on Pixels) in the first place.
However, when Google would make such a move then they will see Samsung leave immediately and Huawei shortly thereafter. And Samsung makes 50% of Android devices - it will be a very hard business decision to justify destroying their ties with Samsung over device updates [1]. Note that Samsung periodically trots out their Tizen operating system to remind everybody that they can be independent of Android should they want to. Huawei will probably just fork Android and attempt to maintain their own app store.
The Android device market is rife with politics and the consumer is mostly on the short of the stick for it. And Apple is the real winner there - they can sell more expensive devices because people are rightly happy to pay a premium not to deal with Android's bullshit.
[1]: Ironically, Samsung is likely the best Android OEM for device updates - if and only if you consider their high end Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines. The real issue is that Samsung wants to also flood the market with cheap crappy devices and never update them - and will likely happily ditch Android for Tizen to continue to do so.
- irq-1 9y agoCouldn't Google use an immutable HAL as a way to make updates themselves? Let users drop manufacturer customizations and get stock android on an older phone.
- DCKing 9y agoThey might. In an edit above, I remarked that for such a system to exist indeed Project Treble is a necessity. But taking centralized control over the way Android updates will be a very ballsy political move by Google to make. Some smaller vendors might appreciate that these responsibilities are taken away from them. Sony, HMD/Nokia and Lenovo/Motorola are basically only adding some apps, themes and tweaks to AOSP at this point anyway, but do tend to have relatively good update reputation (or used to). But other vendors will not appreciate giving away this control at all. Some vendors are likely partially motivated to not have devices updated in the first place. So will Google make such a ballsy move? They themselves barely have good business reasons to do so. Android completely dominates the market anyway, without Google upsetting the politics amongst the vendors and pouring money into doing things that vendors refuse. It seems Android's bad reputation in regards to updates doesn't really hit anyone that hard. Having said that, Project Treble does seem to be a move in that direction. Maybe Google cares enough about theirs and Android's reputation, or maybe they even care enough about being responsible. Maybe they'll make "Windows Update for Android" an opt-in thing for vendors. Maybe there are other ways they can create a more responsible market (and better repution for Android) without upsetting vendors. Let's hope they find a way at least.
- Eridrus 9y ago> Android's bad reputation in regards to updates doesn't really hit anyone that hard. I think this is an issue for Google when they want to introduce new platform features for developers, e.g. Project Tango. If updates take years to get to users, it handicaps Google's ability to be innovative.
- Mindwipe 9y agoHonestly, I'm not sure it's any threat from Samsung that means Google won't do this. I think it's (justified) fear from their legal team that adding any additional licensing terms to the Play Store right now given the European Commission are about to come down on them like a ton of bricks under anti-competition law is suicidal. Shame Google wasted a lot of capital they had trying to do some really silly things in Android for a few years, and didn't lance this boil while they still had the chance.