zlacker

Android only ever had a chance because it is one ecosystem. Developers aren't going to develop for five slightly-different ecosystems in a trench coat.

>>odo124+(OP)
> Developers aren't going to develop for five slightly-different ecosystems

The point, perhaps, is for one to emerge as the prominent choice, the correct one. Diversity however has its own value.

>>odo124+(OP)
There already are multiple different android ecosystems today. For example Samsung has SDKs that have features when targeting their flavor of Android. There will still be a common base.

>>OutOfH+c
I wish Android manufacturers contributed to AOSP, so that it would still be one ecosystem, but with shared ownership. But I guess it's more profitable for all of them to let Google do it on their own. And it sucks for the user, because we have to live with Google's decisions.

>>odo124+(OP)
This ship has sailed, in the past Amazon's store did not succeed a lot, but there are already a few important enough offsprings: * Huawei with separate store and no Gapps * Samsung with importantly different browser and ton of extra features, also another store * in China the app-in-wechat and similar are a major thing

If you develop for a diverse set of user you need a lot of effort.

>>odo124+(OP)
Apps that run on the Kindle Fire can't use Google Mobile Services, and the Amazon appstore is missing many well-known titles.

The Play Store is mostly absent from China, and I really don't know how that ecosystem works.

Was there one ecosystem?

>>chasil+9g
You're too young to remember Symbian and Java phone ecosystem mess, are you? Or even Android of around 2.x era, where getting an app doesn't mean it works on your phone?

>>palata+r1
But does Google accept third-party contributions for AOSP?

>>OutOfH+PF
Yes, anyone is free to contribute to AOSP and many manufacturers already do.

https://source.android.com/docs/setup/contribute/submit-patc...

>>izacus+yv
Oh, my sweet summer child, my first classroom exposure was CP/M.

>>chasil+I21
Then you should know better :))

>>izacus+2y1
I am within a year of retirement, and you think I should care?