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Are they trying to insinuate that power users move to iOS? Well, if Google tries to make Android more profitable by adding more restrictions and trying to mak

by Goladus 11y ago

Are they trying to insinuate that power users move to iOS? Well, if Google tries to make Android more profitable by adding more restrictions and trying to make it more like an iPhone-- I'll be faced with the decision to either switch to iPhone (which is probably better at being an iPhone than Android) or one of the Android forks. As the article points out: Even in the rest of Asia, where many low-cost phone manufacturers do include Google’s apps on their phones, there’s growing interest in finding some alternative to Google’s version of Android. About 30 percent of Android smartphones shipped in the last quarter of 2014 were actually modified, or forked, versions of the OS that may not be very hospitable to Google’s services, according to the firm ABI Research.

drzaiusapelord 11y ago
I don't understand why they don't use Tizen, FirefoxOS, Sailfish, Ubuntu, etc if they dislike google so much. The reality is they need google for all the services they can't or won't implement. They don't want to build their own mapping software, browser, etc. Its all moot anyhow. Google has shoved all the newest APIs into its google play services and without a google license for those items, those apps won't run. This was a play to stop fragmentation like the one you're predicting. I suspect the 30% of phones are Xiaomi phones, which solely exist because the CCP won't let Chinese citizens access google mobile services as they're blocked by their national firewall. If this block didn't exist, Xiaomi would be using all the Google services everyone else does.
- ZeroGravitas 11y ago
  I believe Xiaomi phones use Google apps in non-Chinese markets, e.g. India.
- Goladus 11y ago
  > This was a play to stop fragmentation like the one you're predicting. The parent seemed incredulous that "power users" would use iOS. My point was that power users might just give up being power users if Google does things like you describe: locking up the APIs in google play, etc. A lot of so-called "power users" will just go ahead and give up on Android and use iOS devices.

by Goladus 11y ago

drzaiusapelord 11y ago

I don't understand why they don't use Tizen, FirefoxOS, Sailfish, Ubuntu, etc if they dislike google so much. The reality is they need google for all the services they can't or won't implement. They don't want to build their own mapping software, browser, etc. Its all moot anyhow. Google has shoved all the newest APIs into its google play services and without a google license for those items, those apps won't run. This was a play to stop fragmentation like the one you're predicting. I suspect the 30% of phones are Xiaomi phones, which solely exist because the CCP won't let Chinese citizens access google mobile services as they're blocked by their national firewall. If this block didn't exist, Xiaomi would be using all the Google services everyone else does.

ZeroGravitas 11y ago
I believe Xiaomi phones use Google apps in non-Chinese markets, e.g. India.
Goladus 11y ago
> This was a play to stop fragmentation like the one you're predicting. The parent seemed incredulous that "power users" would use iOS. My point was that power users might just give up being power users if Google does things like you describe: locking up the APIs in google play, etc. A lot of so-called "power users" will just go ahead and give up on Android and use iOS devices.