Google app suite costs as much as $40 per phone under new EU Android deal

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/19/17999366/google-eu-android-licensing-terms

by Aissen • 8 years ago

30 25 8 years ago

mtgx• 8 years ago

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.

hadrien01• 8 years ago

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

dragonwriter• 8 years ago

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.

Yizahi• 8 years ago

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? :)

wmf3• 8 years ago

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

dishanr• 8 years ago

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!

writepub2• 8 years ago

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

blacksmith_tb• 8 years ago

True, though couldn't the manufacturer ship a phone with F-Droid installed?

wmf3• 8 years ago

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.

c487bd622• 8 years ago

Google already locked down Android pretty badly. Many important apps require the Play Store and all that Google stuff to be installed or to be fully functional (e.g notifications). MicroG is not enough for my needs and they introduce new things like SafetyNet to make things even worse. To me that's WAY more important than Google being installed by default or not. They can't lose until you fix this.

acct17712• 8 years ago

I've always heard people happy with microg, people dissatisfied with the complicated procedure of installation, but never anyone that could that was unhappy.

What did it lack, for you?

Zigurd• 8 years ago

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.

bubblethink4• 8 years ago

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 ?

wmf3• 8 years ago

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

Justsignedup• 8 years ago

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.

bubblethink4• 8 years ago

That seems to be a minor side-effect at best. This is generally more predatory, and closer to the windows 10 model i.e., a paid operating system that is user-hostile, and users generally don't have a way to opt out of the cost since OEMs won't really sell a machine without an OS or with linux. The $40 is still going to be passed on to the end-user here while nothing really changes.

tinkerteller• 8 years ago

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?

Google app suite costs as much as $40 per phone under new EU Android deal

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