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A third party app store can not automaticly apply updates to apps. The user has to explictly approve every update. This puts the play store in a privileged posi
by im3w1l 6y ago
A third party app store can not automaticly apply updates to apps. The user has to explictly approve every update. This puts the play store in a privileged position of lower ongoing friction.
- modeless 6y agoThere was a recent Android blog post that said "we will be making changes in Android 12 (next year's Android release) to make it even easier for people to use other app stores on their devices". https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2020/09/listening-to-developer-feedback-to.html https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2020/09/listening-...
- square_usual 6y agoIt will be ages before Android 12 is on a plurality of devices, not even a majority.
- valvar 6y agoThat's assuming the feature even materializes. I don't it's cynical to assume that Google might shelve a "feature" that undermines their own business at the first opportunity.
- pjmlp 6y ago90% of future Android 12 users will only get it when their phone dies and they buy a new one.
- oblio 6y agoIt's actually getting better. New versions of Android are getting adopted faster: https://www.gsmarena.com/report_android_11_has_the_fastest_adoption_rate_in_the_us-news-48125.php https://www.gsmarena.com/report_android_11_has_the_fastest_a... It's not yet at iOS levels, but Google is actually getting there, I'm impressed. It's much easier to pull this off when you're a huge company making the hardware and the software and you can just boss OEMs and telecom companies around, it's much harder when you have a Microsoft Windows-like arrangement. They're still at least 5 years from getting near iOS, but still... progress! :-)
- pjmlp 6y agoIF one happens to own a flagship Android device from top brands, nothing changed for the devices that most people actually buy in large quantities for their pre-paid cards. https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/4/20847758/google-android-update-problem-pie-q-treble-mainline https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/4/20847758/google-android-up... Google's own security reports marketing usually only focus on the devices where they can sell a nice Treble picture.
- oblio 6y agoIt will trickle down. Even for those top brands it was a struggle.
- pjmlp 6y agoNokia will gladly sell me a new device for Android 11, even though other devices from them of similar age as 7+ already got it, and they are one of the best update stories currently. Meanwhile most shopping malls in Germany still sell pre-paid phones with Android 7 and above.
- saurik 6y agoI bet they only announced that because Epic sued them on these grounds soon before that.
- Bellamy 6y agoI bet they invest billions of resources to this feature.
- curt15 6y ago"Android has always allowed people to get apps from multiple app stores. In fact, most Android devices ship with at least two app stores preinstalled, and consumers are able to install additional app stores. " What is the most common preinstalled app store besides Google play?
- modeless 6y agoI'm going to guess the Samsung one.
- londons_explore 6y agoA lot of apps can do substantial changes to functionality with just serverside changes. App developers are already used to a good chunk of users having updates disabled. Those users update every 1 or 2 years whenever they get a new phone and reinstall your app.