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Acer (ASIYF.PK) and Alibaba (ALBCF.PK) just cancelled a smartphone launch featuring the latter's...

  • Thursday, September 13, 2012, 11:10 AM ET
    Acer (ASIYF.PK) and Alibaba (ALBCF.PK) just cancelled a smartphone launch featuring the latter's Aliyun OS, and Alibaba is blaming Google (GOOG). Alibaba, whose OS is Linux-based but can run Android apps, claims Google threatened to "terminate Android cooperation" with Acer if it went ahead with the launch. Though Android is technically open-source, Google wields tight control over what its partners can do with the OS. Baidu and Huawei are two other Chinese firms with mobile OS ambitions.
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This news story has 4 comments:

  •  
    The only real difference between iOS and Android is that Apple actually admits iOS is a closed system... Like Windows, however, allowing OEMs to run your stuff does not make it 'open'...

    All three OS's are proprietary, all three are controlled... Android is open to developers but relatively closed to OEMs... And the collars on the latter are tightening each year...

    Eventually, Samsung, HTC and others will learn this lesson... Like the PC manufacturers before them - HP, Dell, etc. - their continuing dependence on Android will commoditize and severely damage the margins of their mobile hardware business... They are basically selling new hardware portals into Google's monopoly advertising business... That is not a sustainable model for anyone except Google...
    13 Sep 2012, 12:45 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Don't fully agree. Android gives you more options when it comes to third-party keyboards, music players, tethering apps, native e-mail apps, etc. You can't get those things on an iPhone without jailbreaking, and many developers don't want to build an app just for jailbreakers.

    Google is also pretty flexible when it comes to offering display sizes, form factors, and hardware buttons. They're not perfect, but they definitely cast a wider net than Apple. The trade-off comes in polish and not having a truly integrated hardware/software experience.
    13 Sep 2012, 01:08 PM Reply Like
  •  
    1. The iPhone and iPad work with most Bluetooth keyboards, plus a wide range of third-party keyboards, all without jailbreaking. Can you provide hard evidence that there are more for Android phones?

    2. A "native" email app is the one that comes with the OS. Each manufacturer includes just one. Any others you might add are NOT "native."

    "Google is also pretty flexible when it comes to offering display sizes, form factors, and hardware buttons."

    Google doesn't "offer" any of those things. The various manufacturers have chosen to adapt Android to fit those variations. Add to that the fact that many NEW Android phones are equipped with Android 2.x and will never be upgraded and it's easy to see why developers might be frustrated.
    13 Sep 2012, 06:08 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I'm talking about software keyboards such as SwiftKey and Swype. Apple doesn't allow them in the App Store due to its duplicate functionality policy, but Google has no problem with them.

    "Google doesn't "offer" any of those things. The various manufacturers have chosen to adapt Android to fit those variations."

    The point is that Google doesn't get in the way. As the Acer/Alibaba situation shows, they could if they wanted to.
    13 Sep 2012, 06:24 PM Reply Like
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