
Ask HN: Will Google ditch Android anytime soon? - msoad
I see a lot of evidence that Google is trying to ditch Android and make a Chrome for mobile operation system based on their Chrome OS project. 
One of recent moves that makes me think it&#x27;s really serious it their momentum around Chrome Apps for mobile [1]. The main reason is licensing, Google is giving away it&#x27;s work for free to Amazon and others who fork Android and give back nothing. Chrome OS on other hand is licensed against this. Google can control everything from end to end.
Moving to a web based ecosystem gives Google ability to deliver their services on almost any platform very easy. They already started their push on framed web apps in both iOS and Android.
To all of this, add Dart and web components that Google is pushing on it.<p>To me it&#x27;s obvious that Google will ditch Android some day and move fast enough to leave everyone behind with an old operation system on their hand.<p>What do you think? Is there enough reasons for Google to do this?<p>[1]https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;MobileChromeApps&#x2F;
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pedalpete
Android is the largest mobile operating system in the world. I don't see
Google ditching it any time soon.

However, running Chrome Apps on mobile? Why not. That just gives Google
another way for developers to build apps for the google ecosystems.

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jfoster
They are likely planning to merge Android and Chrome OS and have been fairly
open about that, but I think it's Chrome OS that's getting chopped. Google
just added QuickOffice to Chrome OS. That suggests to me that it might already
be Android under the bonnet.

It makes sense, too. Chrome OS is essentially an OS that exists primarily to
run Chrome on. Google might as well just make that OS Android, which already
has Chrome.

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seabrookmx
> To me it's obvious that Google will ditch Android some day

To me it isn't. Like pedalpete has already stated, it is the largest mobile
operating system in the world. It is literally impossible for them to ditch
Android, as their board/shareholders would freak the hell out.

You are on the right track with licensing though. However, they are going
about it a different way, by slowly adding closed source components to
Android. I won't get into a philosophical discussion (I'm an Android user, and
also an open-source advocate) but there have been quite a few articles like
this[1] one explaining the situation. How far they intend to go with this
restructuring, I don't know.

[1] - [http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-
on-...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-
controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/)

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gress
They are more likely to simply push their own apps more and more into chrome
apps and focus a disproportionate amount of effort into Chrome on Android.

Android itself won't be 'ditched', but will become a delivery mechanism for
chrome.

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robin_reala
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_Law_of_Headline...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_Law_of_Headlines)

 _" Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word
no."_

~~~
js7
My next submission will have the headline: "Is Betteridge's law of headlines
always correct?"

