It's better than having them start a whole new operating system. At least this way the apps will still be largely compatible (except for vendor services). Many

It's better than having them start a whole new operating system. At least this way the apps will still be largely compatible (except for vendor services). Many developers will be able to just load the same .apk into both (or more) app stores. And everyone will be contributing core OS improvements to the same pool, it's the open source dream.