4 ms·

This is an absolute win-win for Microsoft and Amazon. Microsoft gets Android Apps, Amazon expands its app store and Google is shunted out of the Microsoft eco-

This is an absolute win-win for Microsoft and Amazon. Microsoft gets Android Apps, Amazon expands its app store and Google is shunted out of the Microsoft eco-system. I see this as an absolute brilliant thing to happen to the app ecosystem. I really hope innovation accelerates on the Amazon App store.

maliker 5y ago
Plus it counters Apple, which recently made iOS apps available on macOS. Seems like all the major OS are betting that mobile is going to be the focus of future native app development and don't want desktop users to miss out.
- zamadatix 5y ago
  I don't think it says quite that much rather they've given up on the idea of a universal native app platform being realistic.
- mekster 5y ago
  Apple being vertically integrated with its own ecosystem versus third parties integrating it on non native CPU platform sounds like a very different level of integrity. No one can match the level of integration Apple had made on Windows and Android platform. We'll see what kind of limitations and bugs to show up.
  - zeusk 5y ago
    Windows runs on ARM too, just that non-Apple ARM chips aren't as competitive in terms of pure performance.
tomComb 5y ago
This could be good for competition, but it's hard to see it as being about innovation. Same as Microsoft copying Chrome and calling it Edge, users have another browser, now with MS telemetry etc. instead of Google. Good for user choice but hardly innovation.
- jacob019 5y ago
  Firefox user here. If I had to choose between MS and Google telemetry, which I don't, I would choose MS any day.
  - canadianfella 5y ago
    This would be so weird to see if I had a time machine 20 years ago.
  - tomComb 5y ago
    Ok, great, so now there is one more option that addresses your preference) but it still isn't really innovation. (I don't really follow how your comment related to the issue.)
ocdtrekkie 5y ago
> Google is shunted out of the Microsoft eco-system We'll see about this one. Last I checked, half of Microsoft's own apps couldn't run on Android if Play Services was disabled.
- wilsonnb3 5y ago
  Microsoft brought the office suite to Amazon's app store pretty recently, when Amazon launched their latest 10 inch tablet with a keyboard attachment.
  - ocdtrekkie 5y ago
    That's good to know. One of the things that pushed me completely off Android was discovering how few even Microsoft apps I could use without Play Services' malware being installed as well. And it's very likely Google will find ways to retaliate against Microsoft for working with the Amazon Appstore here. They are pretty aggressive against forks. Honestly, I would suspect the next Duo won't be able to run Play Services, because Microsoft dared to work with a competing Android app store.
    - zeusk 5y ago
      Wouldn't that Duo2 then be the perfect point for Kindle and Surface to join forces? Just speculating - I know nothing about Android support at Microsoft.
mike_d 5y ago
> Google is shunted out of the Microsoft eco-system iOS is 54.33% of all tablets, Android is 45.57%. Microsoft, Amazon, and everyone else combined account for 0.1% It doesn't seem like an ecosystem Google has the time to worry about.
- slim 5y ago
  54% of all tablets in USA maybe? It's more like 5.4% of all tablets in reality
  - mike_d 5y ago
    Worldwide. In the US it is slightly higher. https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/tablet/worldwide https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/tablet/worldwide
    - slim 5y ago
      That's the market share, not the number of tablets
      - ksec 5y ago
        What is number of tablets? The total number of shipped Tablet? Why would it matter if those tablet are not in use? Which is what the stats from Stats-counter are showing.
        slim 5y ago
        Market share is how much money you make. So for example if apple sells 1M ipads for $500 and android tablets cost $50, at 45.57% it would mean there are 9M android tablets sold. Which makes the proportions more like 11% ipad / 89% android.
        mike_d 5y ago
        Wrong kind of market share. Statscounter is based on unique devices seen across a few million websites, not sales.

maliker 5y ago

Plus it counters Apple, which recently made iOS apps available on macOS. Seems like all the major OS are betting that mobile is going to be the focus of future native app development and don't want desktop users to miss out.

zamadatix 5y ago
I don't think it says quite that much rather they've given up on the idea of a universal native app platform being realistic.
mekster 5y ago
Apple being vertically integrated with its own ecosystem versus third parties integrating it on non native CPU platform sounds like a very different level of integrity. No one can match the level of integration Apple had made on Windows and Android platform. We'll see what kind of limitations and bugs to show up.
- zeusk 5y ago
  Windows runs on ARM too, just that non-Apple ARM chips aren't as competitive in terms of pure performance.

tomComb 5y ago

This could be good for competition, but it's hard to see it as being about innovation. Same as Microsoft copying Chrome and calling it Edge, users have another browser, now with MS telemetry etc. instead of Google. Good for user choice but hardly innovation.

jacob019 5y ago
Firefox user here. If I had to choose between MS and Google telemetry, which I don't, I would choose MS any day.
- canadianfella 5y ago
  This would be so weird to see if I had a time machine 20 years ago.
- tomComb 5y ago
  Ok, great, so now there is one more option that addresses your preference) but it still isn't really innovation. (I don't really follow how your comment related to the issue.)

ocdtrekkie 5y ago

> Google is shunted out of the Microsoft eco-system We'll see about this one. Last I checked, half of Microsoft's own apps couldn't run on Android if Play Services was disabled.

wilsonnb3 5y ago
Microsoft brought the office suite to Amazon's app store pretty recently, when Amazon launched their latest 10 inch tablet with a keyboard attachment.
- ocdtrekkie 5y ago
  That's good to know. One of the things that pushed me completely off Android was discovering how few even Microsoft apps I could use without Play Services' malware being installed as well. And it's very likely Google will find ways to retaliate against Microsoft for working with the Amazon Appstore here. They are pretty aggressive against forks. Honestly, I would suspect the next Duo won't be able to run Play Services, because Microsoft dared to work with a competing Android app store.
  - zeusk 5y ago
    Wouldn't that Duo2 then be the perfect point for Kindle and Surface to join forces? Just speculating - I know nothing about Android support at Microsoft.

mike_d 5y ago

> Google is shunted out of the Microsoft eco-system iOS is 54.33% of all tablets, Android is 45.57%. Microsoft, Amazon, and everyone else combined account for 0.1% It doesn't seem like an ecosystem Google has the time to worry about.

slim 5y ago
54% of all tablets in USA maybe? It's more like 5.4% of all tablets in reality
- mike_d 5y ago
  Worldwide. In the US it is slightly higher. https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/tablet/worldwide https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/tablet/worldwide
  - slim 5y ago
    That's the market share, not the number of tablets
    - ksec 5y ago
      What is number of tablets? The total number of shipped Tablet? Why would it matter if those tablet are not in use? Which is what the stats from Stats-counter are showing.
      - slim 5y ago
        Market share is how much money you make. So for example if apple sells 1M ipads for $500 and android tablets cost $50, at 45.57% it would mean there are 9M android tablets sold. Which makes the proportions more like 11% ipad / 89% android.
        mike_d 5y ago
        Wrong kind of market share. Statscounter is based on unique devices seen across a few million websites, not sales.