
What Happens When It’s Google/Android Vs. Amazon/Android? - ssclafani
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/17/google-versus-amazon-android/
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guelo
This article fails by not mentioning all the Google Apps that Amazon would
have to replace. They have a Market replacement but they would also have to
have replacements for Maps and YouTube. The tight integration with Gmail,
Contacts, Calendar, voice searching and Google Voice would also be missed,
though maybe less so in a tablet. Presumably a partnership with Microsoft
could provide replacements for most of these except YouTube (also Google's
trump card with Apple), but that is pure speculation at this point.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
From the article:

> _This means they’ll have the games and Google’s own Android Market will not
> (at first). That’s huge. And you can expect more of those types of deals._

Is it, and are you, saying that if I have Android from Amazon it's locked in
some way and I can only install apps sourced from Amazon. That seems pretty
crazy.

Surely I'd install apps from Google and from Amazon?

~~~
MatthewPhillips
An Amazon tablet/phone wouldn't have the Google Market. Not because it's
locked; because Google charges for it and has certain requirements the
manufacturer has to agree to; requirements Amazon probably wouldn't meet.

~~~
rst
Well, Google does have licensing requirements, which aren't completely public,
and the payment arrangements aren't entirely public either. But I have seen
reports that the payments don't all go one way --- that, for instance,
carriers get some share of Android Market purchases made on their networks.

As to whether Amazon would want to meet Google's requirements, that's a
business decision on their part. Barnes and Noble hasn't for the Nook, at
least so far --- but that's in part based around a strategy of marketing the
Nook entirely as a niche device (a Kindle work-alike with a better web
browser). It may depend on how many of the most popular apps show up in the
Amazon Appstore when they get close to launch.

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Kylekramer
I like how MG somehow turns the biggest online retailer going Android into a
negative for Google. Guess what? Google does believe in this "open" nonsense.
That is the whole idea. How is Amazon/Android vs. Google/Android any different
than the current state of Motorola/Android vs. Samsung/Android vs.
Google/Android vs. HTC/Android vs. etc? Google's whole plan is stay above the
fray and just being the default operating system. Sure, Amazon have an app
store, but Google is in the driver's seat here. They run the platform. If
Amazon steps out of line (goes Bing, whatever) Google has plenty of tools to
slap them on the wrist. Fork the platform in a new direction that renders
Amazon's devices useless, and that is just off the top of my head. They have
shown they can do this in the past by forcing with Samsung and Motorola going
away from Skyhook. Of course, this will be portrayed in the Apple pundit media
as an affront to openness, but Google is smart. They know that there is a way
to be open and successful and a way to be open and be used.

~~~
yalogin
You do realize that you started out saying Google believes in the "open"
nonsense and then went on to say how it could slap Amazon's wrist and how it
did a similar thing to Samsung and Motorola.

~~~
Kylekramer
I don't get how the meaning of open somehow got turned into you have to let
competition run all over you. Leveraging your work may not be in the sunshine
feel good happiness part of open, but it certainly isn't closed.
Motorola/Samsung were able to use Skyhook if they wanted to, Google just put
themselves in a position where Motorola/Samsung had to choose between who was
the more important partner. I have no doubt Google can do the same with
Amazon.

~~~
allwein
> I have no doubt Google can do the same with Amazon.

Except, not. The way they strong-armed the Skyhook issue was by saying they
would restrict access to the Android App Store if they used Skyhook. Obviously
that strategy won't work on Amazon.

Google only supports the "openness" of Android insomuch as it includes the use
of Google services, which is where they make their money. An Amazon Android
could completely eliminate all Google services, thus becoming a threat. Amazon
has their own app store, their own music service, can use Bing for maps, etc.

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fab13n
They don't mention the possibility that Google and Amazon strike an agreement.
One knows how to do online data mining, the other knows how to do retail
online; it might be worth for each of them to join force by givin up the
domain in which they don't shine: they don't need an Android inner fight in
which they're likely to both lose to Apple.

~~~
nametoremember
I am sure Amazon are pretty good at mining data.

~~~
fab13n
I am sure Amazon are pretty good at mining _their own_ data.

When it comes to mining the open, unstructured and uncontrolled mess that is
the Internet, I believe they're no match to Google. Which is OK: it isn't part
of their core business.

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thomson
This is a nonexistent battle as a developer, isn't it? Applications that sell
on one platform will sell on the other, and Amazon's licensing agreement is
non-exclusive. This is like Coke vs. Pepsi and we're selling the ice cubes.

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brudgers
What is interesting about the potential squareoff is the huge advantage that
Amazon has in the slate form factor: ~$120 for a Kindle which is designed for
the killer slate app - reading [edit: of which web surfing is often just a
part]. Not only has Amazon already stolen a march exactly where Google is most
vulnerable with there advertising subsidized models, their current advertising
model has much greater potential to extend the content of periodicals than the
keyword driven highest bidder (aka frequently both irritating and irrelevant)
model upon which Google relies. Finally, the lion's share of Amazon's revenue
model in the slate market is based on providing consumers exactly what they
ask for (books and slates) rather than primarily providing what third parties
(advertisers) are willing to pay for.

There are sound available alternatives to Google's Gmail, Maps, and Search
from which Amazon may choose. Google does not have a similar alternative to
Amazon's primary asset of reputation for quality and service among consumers.

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Meai
I don't have an Android device, can someone explain how Google earns money
from Android now? To me this article doesn't make any sense, Android is free
for everyone after all. So why would Google care about an expanding ecosystem?

~~~
ZeroGravitas
The official line is that Google makes money from people using the web, and
therefore looking at their ads. Anything that makes people use the web more is
good for Google, including carrying little 3G-connected computers with them
everywhere they go to use as "phones".

So they don't care about an expanding ecosystem as they'll get money out of it
anyway, even if it's iPhone or other non-Android platforms that's getting
people on the web.

But everything in tech journalism gets looked at through Apple-tinted glasses
these days and Apple would detest an iPhone fork, if that was even possible,
so therefore Google must be assumed to fear it too.

~~~
erikstarck
Yes. A market with 1 billion Google Android phones and 1 billion Amazon
Android phones is better than a market with 2 billion Symbian phones.

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sigzero
May the best Android win.

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ulysses
Currently, I use the Amazon marketplace instead of Google because the Google
marketplace doesn't support my device (Pocket Edge upgraded to 2.2).

However, there's no reason (other than policy) that a device couldn't access
both.

