NEW DELHI: Europe has been investigating Google Search for so long now, that the filing of formal antitrust charges was almost anticlimactic.
But there was one part that stuck out. In addition to filing formal charges related to Google Search, the European authorities also said they were launching an investigation into Android.
This is new
European authorities are looking at three things:
1. Did Google force or incentivize Android phone and tablet makers to "exclusively pre-install Google's own applications or services?"
2. Did Google prevent smartphone and tablet makers who wanted to install Google applications and services on some devices from shipping "modified and potentially competing versions of Android (known as 'Android forks') on other devices?"
3. Did Google tie or bundle certain Google applications and services that shipped with Android devices, with other Google applications, services, and APIs?
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This sounds complicated — and it is — because there are really two Androids.
There's the Android Open Source Platform, or AOSP — let's call it "open" Android.
Open Android provides a fully functional mobile operating system and some scaffolding to build certain types of apps. Google develops open Android and publishes the code under an open source license, meaning anybody can take it and do whatever they want with it.
Amazon used this platform to build the Kindle Fire and Fire Phone. Many Chinese handset makers like Xiaomi use it to build smartphones and tablets. Cyanogen is using it to create a separate version of Android that Google doesn't control.
Google makes no money from these versions of Android, which don't include any Google apps or links back to Google services (or Google ads).
But there's also another Android, which is most commonly called the Google Mobile Services platform, or GMS. This is the version of Android you get on most phones from big sellers like Samsung, LG, HTC, and Lenovo. Let's call it "full" Android.
The full version of Android is built on top of open Android. But it includes all kinds of important things that a modern mobile platform needs, like location services, in-app purchasing, services for businesses to help secure devices, and much more. Third-party apps take advantage of these services. There are also a bunch of Google applications, like Chrome, that ship with full Android.
[http://m]
"Material Design," a new look and feel Google introduced in the latest build, Lollipop.
Full Android is documented as much as it needs to be for developers to build apps, but it isn't open source. It's closer to Microsoft Windows — a proprietary platform that Google wants everybody to use.
Google doesn't charge for the full version of Android, as Microsoft does with Windows. But the built-in Google services help collect data that Google uses to target ads, and the bundled apps and services can include ads themselves.
If Google is ever going to turn Android into a real money-making business, it's going to be the full version of Android that does it.
http://m.timesofindia.com/tech/computing/There-are-actually-two-types-of-Android/articleshow/46985097.cms
But there was one part that stuck out. In addition to filing formal charges related to Google Search, the European authorities also said they were launching an investigation into Android.
This is new
European authorities are looking at three things:
1. Did Google force or incentivize Android phone and tablet makers to "exclusively pre-install Google's own applications or services?"
2. Did Google prevent smartphone and tablet makers who wanted to install Google applications and services on some devices from shipping "modified and potentially competing versions of Android (known as 'Android forks') on other devices?"
3. Did Google tie or bundle certain Google applications and services that shipped with Android devices, with other Google applications, services, and APIs?
[http://m]
This sounds complicated — and it is — because there are really two Androids.
There's the Android Open Source Platform, or AOSP — let's call it "open" Android.
Open Android provides a fully functional mobile operating system and some scaffolding to build certain types of apps. Google develops open Android and publishes the code under an open source license, meaning anybody can take it and do whatever they want with it.
Amazon used this platform to build the Kindle Fire and Fire Phone. Many Chinese handset makers like Xiaomi use it to build smartphones and tablets. Cyanogen is using it to create a separate version of Android that Google doesn't control.
Google makes no money from these versions of Android, which don't include any Google apps or links back to Google services (or Google ads).
But there's also another Android, which is most commonly called the Google Mobile Services platform, or GMS. This is the version of Android you get on most phones from big sellers like Samsung, LG, HTC, and Lenovo. Let's call it "full" Android.
The full version of Android is built on top of open Android. But it includes all kinds of important things that a modern mobile platform needs, like location services, in-app purchasing, services for businesses to help secure devices, and much more. Third-party apps take advantage of these services. There are also a bunch of Google applications, like Chrome, that ship with full Android.
[http://m]
"Material Design," a new look and feel Google introduced in the latest build, Lollipop.
Full Android is documented as much as it needs to be for developers to build apps, but it isn't open source. It's closer to Microsoft Windows — a proprietary platform that Google wants everybody to use.
Google doesn't charge for the full version of Android, as Microsoft does with Windows. But the built-in Google services help collect data that Google uses to target ads, and the bundled apps and services can include ads themselves.
If Google is ever going to turn Android into a real money-making business, it's going to be the full version of Android that does it.
http://m.timesofindia.com/tech/computing/There-are-actually-two-types-of-Android/articleshow/46985097.cms
