
Why Google will stop developing Android - drusoicy
http://www.gearlive.com/news/article/google-will-stop-developing-android-q213/
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millstone
> I remember Andy's second point. He argued that if Google did not act, we
> faced a Draconian future, future where one man, one company, one device, one
> carrier would be our only choice.

When exactly was this point supposedly made?

"One man, one company, one device..." is presumably a reference to the iPhone.
So if Google did not act (by buying Android) then the iPhone would dominate?
But Google bought Android before the iPhone was even announced.

This sounds like a big retcon to me.

~~~
retcon5
Google had Eric Schmidt on Apple's board and knew about iPhone way before it
was announced. He used this inside information to benefit Google, for instance
buying up Android before iPhone was released.

~~~
Shooti
Schmidt joined the Apple board 4 months before the iPhone's public unveiling:
[http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/08/29Google-CEO-Dr-
Eric...](http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/08/29Google-CEO-Dr-Eric-Schmidt-
Joins-Apples-Board-of-Directors.html)

Not much of a heads up.

~~~
JasonDiaz
Very interesting and valid comments made.

Vic hosted at Google IO 2010, he made those statements public, perhaps to get
the dev audience amped up to the idea of Android vs the establishment.

The first prototype Android is telling, it's said that Eric was given an
iPhone prototype. Quick visit to the drawing board?

The crux, Google is about ads, can they monetize Android?

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gfosco
The site this is hosted on is bad enough to affect my reading of the article.
Tiny text in a tiny sliver of the window, big glaring ad video up top,
terribly broken layout.

On top of that, I doubt they'll stop developing Android any time soon... They
have a nice platform that brings a lot of attachment, and huge marketshare.

~~~
juusto
Thy this: <http://evernote.com/clearly/>

And you are welcome. :)

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msoad
This makes perfect sense.

    
    
         1. Google's competitors are using Android to compete with Google. Look at Samsung and Facebook
         2. Google is providing free Android Support to it's competitors because of it's licensing structure. 
         3. Google is a web company and they are a big supporter of web and web apps.
         4. Google is pushing Chrome packaged apps to make them ready for mobile. Dart is there for this reason I believe
         5. Chrome OS licensing do not allow abuse like Android

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Zigurd
This only deserves comment for being a monument to bad analysis. Let's keep it
brief and take only the example of maps. How important is mobile revenue to
Google's maps business? This article suggests Apple's flub cost it $1 billion,
which Google just snatched up:
[http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-12-13/finance/35791575_...](http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-12-13/finance/35791575_1_google-
maps-apple-maps-ad-revenue)

~~~
millstone
Apple somehow lost out in $1 billion in ad revenue? Talk about bad analysis.

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bsimpson
Android basically dominates I/O now. There's no way Google walks away in the
near term, especially now that they have a UX team that understands how to
build a compelling device. (Pre-FroYo Android was terrible, but from ICS on,
it's developed a pretty solid interface.)

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jusben1369
Fascinating read albeit in a butt ugly environment.

Android makes Google no money and worse empowers companies like Samsung who
could soon shut them out. Google has ChromeOS which has none of the baggage
Android. Release a ChromeOS phone and see what happens?

~~~
chii
for one, they will find it a bit difficult to retain the developers that have
finally started taking android as a platform to target (when previously,
iphone was king and first priority).

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Poyeyo
I honestly am waiting for Ubuntu phone to arrive before I buy my next device
purchase.

Much more interesting than Android from a technical point of view.

~~~
drusoicy
I love the idea of the Ubuntu OS for smartphones--more choice and more
competition is only a good thing. The only problem I see with it is that the
gestures aren't all natural, so it will do way more than most people will know
that it can do because they don't know that performing a certain gesture will
do something...unless it comes with some sort of instruction manual or
tutorial videos in the OS itself.

