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What Kindle Means for Android

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Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#21

Post by myko »

Mythbusters wrote: post #18
zmmmmm wrote: post #10

It's kind of amusing to me how every now and then someone proclaims that Google has "lost control" of Android and how this must be some kind of crisis and portends a looming disaster. Then we will have a series of people proclaiming how Android is not really open and what a farce Google's pretense of openness is, and what fools we were to ever believe that Google intended to make an open source operating system. Freq…

Actually I think Google's openness is a quasi. Otherwise you wouldn't see them blocking the acer phone.

Acer is free to use Android in any phone they want. They would just have to use a different app store than Google Play.

So, Android's openness is absolute. Google's openness (Google Play, Gmail, etc) is not.

Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#22

Post by esolyt »

chj wrote: post #16
esolyt wrote: post #12

Yes. Google lost control of an operating system which they consciously decided to release as open source and free software. Somehow, I don't think they were trying hard to retain control of the OS.

they're trying very hard these days: http://marketingland.com/google-acer-android-aliyun-21631

No. That's not trying hard. They could have just made Android closed-source, which is easy and simple.

In this case, they don't want an OHA member to ship products with Android forks that break app compatibility. Amazon is neither an OHA member and its OS does not break compatibility. Even if it did, why would it hurt Google or Android anymore than, say, using a completely different OS?

Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#23

Post by swang »

First, can we stop with the FUD about Google "banning" Acer from releasing a phone. This ArsTech article covers most of it but basically Alibaba was planning to release an OS that could run Android apps but was not certified by the OHA. And Acer as a member of OHA has to enforce Android compatibility on their devices to enforce consistency in Android. The same thing people complain about Android (fragmentation) is what they were trying to avoid.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/09/google-blocked-acers-...

Regarding the article, whatever Google has controlled since the beginning they have never lost, which is providing the "Google Experience" On Android.

Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#24

Post by bstar77 »

swang wrote: post #23

First, can we stop with the FUD about Google "banning" Acer from releasing a phone. This ArsTech article covers most of it but basically Alibaba was planning to release an OS that could run Android apps but was not certified by the OHA. And Acer as a member of OHA has to enforce Android compatibility on their devices to enforce consistency in Android. The same thing people complain about Android (fragmentation) is wh…

I think this is an extremely naive view... Devices that don't have gmail, maps, chrome and play is a huge loss for google. It's very much in google's interest to discourage these types of forks, but that's the nature of open source.

Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#25

Post by fluidcruft »

guelo wrote: post #4
Mythbusters wrote: post #2

The way android is used by Amazon is essentially how apple used unix core to get the basics right when creating a new software platform. A smart move obviously. What surprises me is how none of the big android players have not seen an opportunity here and created their own experience on top of it. That is the easiest way to differentiate yourself from the myriad of other cheap android device makers. Im sure there is…

> What surprises me is how none of the big android players have not seen an opportunity here I guess you haven't heard of HTC Sense, Motoblur, Samsung's Touchwiz, etc. and how users mostly hate them. Savvy users seem to prefer taking Amazon's Android Kindles and installing vanilla Androids on them.

Amazon has what the others (including Google) don't have--an established digital commerce solution that people use and amazing customer support. Goggle falls flat but sort of seems to be trying to work on it, but I don't trust them the way I already trust Amazon. There's zero reason for me to purchase a book on Play instead of a Kindle as far as I can tell.

Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#26

Post by jlgreco »

bstar77 wrote: post #24
swang wrote: post #23

First, can we stop with the FUD about Google "banning" Acer from releasing a phone. This ArsTech article covers most of it but basically Alibaba was planning to release an OS that could run Android apps but was not certified by the OHA. And Acer as a member of OHA has to enforce Android compatibility on their devices to enforce consistency in Android. The same thing people complain about Android (fragmentation) is wh…

I think this is an extremely naive view... Devices that don't have gmail, maps, chrome and play is a huge loss for google. It's very much in google's interest to discourage these types of forks, but that's the nature of open source.

While I agree with your general sentiment, I think the terminology "lost" only makes sense if they "had" it in the first place. Bringing a new device to the market that doesn't pander to Google hardly qualifies as Google "losing" something (Except perhaps in the MPAA sense of the term).

Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#27

Post by enjo »

Mythbusters wrote: post #15
guelo wrote: post #11

Fortunately for developers Amazon hasn't forked the OS too much. The APIs for the latest release are the ICS APIs which is OK since most devs will still be targeting Froyo or Gingerbread for another year or so. The only problem is if you use some of the Google APIs, mainly Maps, in which case you'll have to get clever, either with reflection or your build system, to include Amazon's maps in your app. If Amazon ever t…

There is a reason they haven't forked because there is a value in the ecosystem. What they have done is that the have starved Google of the revenue it makes out of android and that is where the opportunity is for major device makers which I don't get how they not see it.

I'm not following...why would major device manufacturers want to starve Google?

Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#28

Post by cma »

fluidcruft wrote: post #25
guelo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What surprises me is how none of the big android players have not seen an opportunity here I guess you haven't heard of HTC Sense, Motoblur, Samsung's Touchwiz, etc. and how users mostly hate them. Savvy users seem to prefer taking Amazon's Android Kindles and installing vanilla Androids on them.

Amazon has what the others (including Google) don't have--an established digital commerce solution that people use and amazing customer support. Goggle falls flat but sort of seems to be trying to work on it, but I don't trust them the way I already trust Amazon. There's zero reason for me to purchase a book on Play instead of a Kindle as far as I can tell.

You forgot to mention that the kindle app is available free on stock android.

Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#29

Post by fpgeek »

michaelpinto wrote: post #19

But didn't Google block Acer pretty recently? I understand that Acer was part of an industry group, but if Google is delivering a stream of improvements to Android can't they just lock up future updates?

Well, until 2017 there's a pesky promise to Chinese regulators: http://news.cnet.com/8301-32969_3-57437774-300/china-to-goog...

Of course, Google's willingness to make that promise says something about their current plans and the contingencies they foresee.

Re: What Kindle Means for Android

#30

Post by programminggeek »

The whole point of Android from Google's perspective was to give them the ability to control search on mobile without having to buy their way in like they did on the Windows desktop and they do on iOS. Every year Google spends hundreds of millions of dollars to Apple, Mozilla, Dell, HP, etc. to be the default search provider, have their toolbar installed, have Chrome be the default, or whatever way they want to be the search default, and it is worth every penny, but owning their own platform in Android means they control their own destiny on the future computing platform - phones, tablets, tv's, and other embedded computing systems.

Fragmentation is not a problem because Google still is the primary Android services provider. If Samsung or HTC started doing what Amazon is doing and selling Android phones without Google apps and search as a default, then Google's in trouble.

Google's biz model is to give away Android for free, but make up for it in money from the Play market, mobile ads, and mobile search.

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