Now with Android N reaching 7%,one year later, who do they think will even bother with Android O?
As soon as the sdk will be final we will think about compiling against it and targeting it.
We are not in a huge hurry, it can skip a release or 2 (we release every 3 weeks). There are no big breaking changes though (unlike let's say Marshmallow) so as long as the support lib is stable (it needs to match with compile version) we are going to support it ASAP.
We also have some N features like shortcuts.
First, that 7% figure is the whole Android (with play services) user base, numbers are pretty different on the dashboard of our general public app.
Secondly, we will start by compiling for O : the supports libraries are only tested for their corresponding compile version. That way we will be able to use new support lib features on all Android versions.
Then, we will target O (probably in the same release of the app). It should be pretty trivial : this is not marshmallow with the new permission system, system level changes in O are manageable.
For clarification, the build script of an android app separates compile version (= binary compatibility) and target version (= you handle the new behaviors of the system like granular permission in M)
By targeting O ASAP we :
- are potentially able to ship some features based on this release, like shortcuts for N. Sure, we are not going to spend a lot of dev time on an O-only feature right now but there are some easy wins. And of course the install base does not stay small for very long.
-are able to detect potential problems before OEMs start launching flagships with that Android version and we get millions of crashes / day.
There is really no good reason to stay behind.
And he has a point : Google could easily ask that all new apps target the last version of the OS.
Ok I am not a lawyer or a part of the negotiations between Google and OEMs but I don't think Google can force OEMs to keep phones up to date for a given amount of time.
First, it is not just up to the OEMs, they need new drivers for new platform versions.
Secondly, what leverage does Google have here ? Preventing OEMs from releasing phones with Play Services looks like a really sharp double edged sword. Even triple edged actually since consumers would also suffer from this kind of deal.