“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell System Was in 1956″

Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by secfirstmd on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @01:27PM (#14309916)

Hmm forking Android and turning the ecosystem into a complete mess around stuff like security updates. To the point were a lot of people, including myself, are considering buying a Google device purely to ensure some sort of longevity.

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by praneshp on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @01:37PM (#14309985)

I just finished having a heated argument with friends living in India (that work at investment banks, so not exactly old people with some calling device in hand).

A bunch of them were complaining that Uber is being bad, requiring camera permissions, etc. The newer androids have nicer permissions systems, requested at runtime. But they are running Android 5* because the shiny turd of a phone they got supports only that, but looks awesome. AOSP is good and all, but I'll never buy anything that is not a Google device unless I magically have free time to root it and run an OS I trust (which might or might not exist).

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by yunoe on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @05:52PM (#14312051)

I think you all are missing the point. As Google gave away Android for free with the support of their brand, services and user base it essentially killed all the alternatives (MeeGo, WebOS, BlackBerry 10) and companies that were focused on software (Palm, Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, BlackBerry). It's not at all unexpected that these Asian companies can't compete in terms of systems design, both in terms of experience and ownership, but also just cost. Almost no one is making any money (other than Samsung, which is extremely very vertically integrated, at least in theory). Throwing in cheaper chips and making the software flashier is really the only business model that is available, even if some manufacturers like Mi do offer long term support.

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by scarface74 on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @01:38PM (#14309993)

Google only guaranteed support for two years. Not exactly what I would call "longevity".

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by aaomidi on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @02:06PM (#14310234)

Two years of OS updates and three years of security updates.

The devices that google had and weren't using Qualcomm CPU got updates for a lot longer (e.g Nexus Player).

It gets very, very annoying for Google to try to support phones that use CPUs that don't update or release anything anymore.

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by jorvi on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @04:14PM (#14311235)

I never understood how 'SoC manufacture X doesn't release updates for that SoC' translates into 'we can't update/support this device anymore'. My OnePlus One is whizzing along happily on Nougat (7.1.2) via LineageOS. There's also a well working ported version of OxygenOS 3.1 for it, despite OnePlus having abandoned it on 2.1; Hell, even the Samsung Galaxy S2 can still run Nougat via, again, LineageOS. What's preventing Google, Samsung or OnePlus (who are a lot more well-funded than a ragtag group of devs) from doing the same, aside from pure unfettered greed?

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by scarface74 on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @07:16PM (#14312597)

I never understood how 'SoC manufacture X doesn't release updates for that SoC' translates into 'we can't update/support this device anymore

Apple uses some third party chips but they haven't had that problem. Currently, iOS 10.3 supports the iPhone 5 - released in 2012. I suspect that iOS 11 when it comes out in September will keep support for all 64 bit iPhones. That would mean the iPhone 5s introduced in 2013 will be supported until September 2018.

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by majewsky on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @04:31PM (#14311388)

Because the LineageOS installer does not give any warranty that it won't brick the phone beyond repair. If Google updates Android and it uses an unsupported Qualcomm driver and that thing breaks anything, Google may be held liable in court and forced to pay damages.

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Re:“Google Is as Close to a Natural Monopoly as the Bell Sys... by secfirstmd on Wednesday May 10, 2017 @03:42PM (#14310993)

Agreed, but it's better than most Android offerings these days...

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