I'm not assuming contract lock-in (there's none with Android, you can drop out at any time.) Android has created competition that reduces mobile hardware to a c

I'm not assuming contract lock-in (there's none with Android, you can drop out at any time.) Android has created competition that reduces mobile hardware to a commodity, but that pressure hits competitors with different OSes, too. (For example, in China.) PS - you are forbidden (strictly illegally IMHO - bundling law - but you are) from distributing Google apps with phones that employ the Android libraries but not the full Google Android OS proper; but if you avoid Google's libraries you're good to leave for any other OS and still OEM their apps.