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The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google’s Iron Grip on Android

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Re: The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google’s Iron Grip on Android

#11

Post by NotPaidToPost »

Roritharr wrote: post #9

Google invested Billions into Android. Samsung tried to hedge for this by building Tizen(Bada) and realized how much needed to be invested to get an Android competitor going, so they kept the development going, but focused for their Smartwatches, as this would have to be a "if the worst happens" plan, not something that could be a profitable venture. LG has the Palm/HP borne WebOS for their TVs, i suspect with a simi…

This is different from Korean manufacturers this time. This is China caught in a national security issue.

- China has a huge domestic market and it may be sufficient in itself for a profitable venture

- About half of Android phones are manufactured by Chinese brands.

- China has deep pockets and are willing to play the long game.

- They have no choice. Trump's used the nuclear option, which may well work in the short term but in the long term this has shown China and others that they have to get rid of their reliance on US tech and companies as a matter of national security.

I think Trump's move has set a ball rolling and that in 10 years we'll see the results of that... And that won't be a pretty picture for the US.

Re: The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google’s Iron Grip on Android

#12

Post by luckylion »

writepub wrote: post #4

Such iron, much grip. You can trivially install Google play store and services on 98% of the non-licensed phones in China. The fact that a $50B Chinese domestic Android market is thriving with zero control by Google proves the thesis to be untrue. Then there's Amazon's fire product line. The only reason it lags Google's play store is quality. If Amazon's hardware and software/store selection were 80% as good, they'd…

> You can trivially install Google play store and services on 98% of the non-licensed phones in China.

You can. I can. My mother and 95% (99? 99.9?) of the android users cannot.

> The fact that a $50B Chinese domestic Android market is thriving with zero control by Google proves the thesis to be untrue.

In Western countries it's true. You also can't build an online business in Europe if you're blocked by Google because they have a monopoly on search and nobody will find you. You can in China, but that doesn't change the situation in Europe (or, to a lesser extent, the US, I hear bing has some market share still).

Re: The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google’s Iron Grip on Android

#13

Post by geezerjay »

writepub wrote: post #4

Such iron, much grip. You can trivially install Google play store and services on 98% of the non-licensed phones in China. The fact that a $50B Chinese domestic Android market is thriving with zero control by Google proves the thesis to be untrue. Then there's Amazon's fire product line. The only reason it lags Google's play store is quality. If Amazon's hardware and software/store selection were 80% as good, they'd…

>You can trivially install Google play store and services on 98% of the non-licensed phones in China.

You mean Google's own Google Play store?

Sounds like Google is in control of that one as well.

Re: The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google’s Iron Grip on Android

#14

Post by _iyig »

fspeech wrote: post #7

It seems that it is up to Europe to give its people the choice in hardware and software by making appropriate regulations.

It’d be a better world if Europe could give people more choices by... giving them more choices, instead of regulating the choices that other countries provide and fundamentally control.

Re: The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google’s Iron Grip on Android

#15

Post by fspeech »

NotPaidToPost wrote: post #11
Roritharr wrote: post #9

Google invested Billions into Android. Samsung tried to hedge for this by building Tizen(Bada) and realized how much needed to be invested to get an Android competitor going, so they kept the development going, but focused for their Smartwatches, as this would have to be a "if the worst happens" plan, not something that could be a profitable venture. LG has the Palm/HP borne WebOS for their TVs, i suspect with a simi…

This is different from Korean manufacturers this time. This is China caught in a national security issue. - China has a huge domestic market and it may be sufficient in itself for a profitable venture - About half of Android phones are manufactured by Chinese brands. - China has deep pockets and are willing to play the long game. - They have no choice. Trump's used the nuclear option, which may well work in the short…

I think Google can compete on its own merit without having to be viewed as a monopolist, so I disagree that it won't be pretty for the US. Google will do fine on a more level playing field.

Re: The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google’s Iron Grip on Android

#16

Post by _iyig »

writepub wrote: post #4

Such iron, much grip. You can trivially install Google play store and services on 98% of the non-licensed phones in China. The fact that a $50B Chinese domestic Android market is thriving with zero control by Google proves the thesis to be untrue. Then there's Amazon's fire product line. The only reason it lags Google's play store is quality. If Amazon's hardware and software/store selection were 80% as good, they'd…

>Then there's Amazon's fire product line.

This product line does not include smartphones. The Fire Phone has been dead for a while, and never got a sequel.

Re: The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google’s Iron Grip on Android

#19

Post by baybal2 »

Roritharr wrote: post #9

Google invested Billions into Android. Samsung tried to hedge for this by building Tizen(Bada) and realized how much needed to be invested to get an Android competitor going, so they kept the development going, but focused for their Smartwatches, as this would have to be a "if the worst happens" plan, not something that could be a profitable venture. LG has the Palm/HP borne WebOS for their TVs, i suspect with a simi…

> Google bought this platform with every dollar invested over more than a decade, they didn't do this only so that Apple had a competitor, but so that THEY had control over mobile eyeballs.

Google's biggest trick was developers. They leveraged the decaying state of Java, and it being the default CS language in a lot of places. They simple showed a more attractive opportunity to tenths of thousands of Java devs stuck in ungainful employment in "enterprise software" sector.

Nobody else in the world managed to get so much of developer mindshare overnight ever.

Developers, developers, developers, developers... Balmer got the idea, but did not know how to get it.

Jobs realised it too late, and spent too much effort toying with Internet only apps in time when most of USA was on class 2 GPRS.

Andy Rubin, well I'd say, got the right solution almost by accident, and only realised its value later in Android's life.

Re: The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google’s Iron Grip on Android

#20

Post by NotPaidToPost »

fspeech wrote: post #15
NotPaidToPost wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is different from Korean manufacturers this time. This is China caught in a national security issue. - China has a huge domestic market and it may be sufficient in itself for a profitable venture - About half of Android phones are manufactured by Chinese brands. - China has deep pockets and are willing to play the long game. - They have no choice. Trump's used the nuclear option, which may well work in the short…

I think Google can compete on its own merit without having to be viewed as a monopolist, so I disagree that it won't be pretty for the US. Google will do fine on a more level playing field.

The problem is not Google per se, but the power the US government yields through Google and tech companies in general.

If 50% of Android phones are by Chinese brands then once an alternative exists they will have a big incentive in dropping Android. The end result can only be a massive market share loss for Google.

The same goes for other tech companies like Qualcomm, ARM (not US but in same boat). Anything that can be weaponised.

This is geopolitics and a global strategic issue. Google is just caught in it.

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