First it was China, now it is Russia. This isn't good for Google.
“While Google is actively trying to reduce Android fragmentation by imposing certain conditions to partner companies — including forcing them to use the latest Android OS versions on new devices in order to get access to Google apps and the Play Store — other companies are ready to help OEMs create their own Android forks,” Chris Smith reports for BGR.
“TechCrunch reports that Russian giant Yandex has now released its own Yandex.Kit to help OEMs fork Android to their hearts’ content,” Smith reports. “Yandex is basically encouraging OEMs to offer users a Google-free Android experience by using its own services instead of the Google services mobile device users will get with Google-approved Android devices.”
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“In a blog post announcing the new Kit, Yandex described it as ‘a comprehensive, out-of-the-box solution, versatile and technologically honed enough to be offered to original device manufacturers as firmware that they can install on their devices shipped to the Russian market,’” Natasha Lomas reports for TechCrunch. “The kit is fee-free, and while Yandex is obviously targeting Russian device makers and mobile carriers who want a more locally flavoured set of services to Google, it is also targeting international B2B clients by offering ‘deep customisation’ for parts of the kit — such as the ability to brand the app store and have the specific device maker’s/carrier’s own apps featured (i.e. rather than having to stick with Google’s branding and whatever Google wants to feature in its Play Store).”
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Google’s Android platform is unravelingThursday, January 30, 2014 · 5:01 pm · 36 Comments
“This has been a telling week for Google and its dominant Android platform. Google may have won a couple of battles this week, like unloading Motorola’s handset business and signing a patent deal with Samsung, but it also became clear that Google’s Android empire is unraveling,” Nancy Gohring writes for CITEworld.
“Just this morning ABI Research reported that forked Android products, meaning those that don’t include Google’s services, accounted for 25 percent of Android smartphones shipped in the fourth quarter. For those phones, Google does all the hard work developing a phone OS but gets nothing in return,” Gohring writes. “With Samsung’s increasingly dominant position in the Android world, there’s little reason for it to bow to Google’s wishes.”
“The week did see a bit of a detente between Samsung and Google. On Sunday, Google and Samsung said they’d signed a ten-year cross licensing deal. Re/code also reports that Samsung agreed to put its own UI in the background and do more to highlight Google’s apps… [But] Samsung will again eventually wander away from Google. At the same time, the percentage of forked Android devices, like Amazon’s Kindle is likely to grow,” Gohring writes. “The result is that despite its best efforts, Google will continue to cede control of Android to others who have figured out a way to piggyback on Android for their own profit.”
Read more in the full article here.
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