
Google app suite costs as much as $40 per phone under new EU Android deal - Aissen
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/19/17999366/google-eu-android-licensing-terms
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dishanr
May be the OEMs can sell phones without Google apps for a lower price if they
choose to increase the device price to include them. I'd buy one!

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writepub
Impractical. You're a tech savvy individual. Regular folks will find it
friction laden to install an app store via sideloading

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wmf
The phone would still come with an app store; it just wouldn't be the Play
Store. Amazon is probably calling all the phone vendors already. Carriers
might also like to take back control of the store.

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writepub
Amazon/other store is not a compelling sales pitch to the end user. I myself
wouldn't recommend the average user anything outside Google play, as it's
light years ahead in selection, security, UX ...

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bubblethink
Why is this fee still with strings attached ? If they are going to charge for
play services, just deliver play services for the fee. They want OEMs to
bundle playstore, youtube, maps etc., still pay the 40 bucks, and end-user
anyway has to pay with ads and personal data. So how is this helping anyone ?

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wmf
It's helping other search engines which was the point. You might see phones
with Bing instead of Google.

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Justsignedup
While people say that OEMs now have to pay up. The reality is that Bing will
be paying.

The real trick is that Android has all the assistant features, which means
that Android will be shipped crippled without them.

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Yizahi
I wonder will do Samsung and OEMs with Samsung RGBG Pentile displays?
Previously they were artificially increasing their PPI for marketing purposes
(compared to the "true" RGB display PPI) and now they will either continue to
do so and pay more or declare lower correct PPI and pay less? Pride or wallet,
who will win? :)

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wmf
Not sure why this got downvoted; I've been wondering for years whether people
can even tell the difference of these >400 PPI screes.

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mtgx
This will hurt OEMs in the short-term, but it will also incentivize them to
get together and adopt some alternative solution, thus escaping Google's rule.

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tinkerteller
Given average Android phone lifespan of 21 months, this leads to $2 per month
charge for each Android user in EU. Not big deal for most users. However,
interestingly all the fines and taxes on corporations are always passed on to
customers. When will EU understand in their quest to tax and fine the shit out
of tech companies?

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hadrien01
Not sure the EU commission will like that. They're still incentivizing Google
Chrome and Google Search on Android devices with these discounts

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dragonwriter
This is pretty much exactly what the EU asked for—Google to unbundle so that
handset makers could pay for what they want and Google would pay them for what
Google wants (Chrome and Search), rather than just offering one take it or
leave it package.

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Zigurd
Tablet licenses are capped at $20. I wish I had the option of a supported
Google app suite on an Amazon tablet. I'd pay a lot more than $20.

