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Agreed. Isn't this the whole "Apple Store" argument: "It's their store and they can do what they want?"

The difference between the two, of course, is that Apple owns the store and is also the mayor of the town and makes sure that nobody else opens a store in their town. Don't like it? Move to a different town.

Google is welcome to make these changes. If developers don't like it, they can still sell their applications. They can go through Amazon's Appstore, Opera Mobile App Store, GetJar, AndAppStore, Handango, onlyAndroid Superstore, Insyde Market, Appoke, and various others. They can also sell them via their own website or they could even put it on a CD and sell it through a real-world store in a box or something. I know--how quaint.

Thank you for appropriately labeling your post. You have indeed set up a strawman argument. The only things Google can remove from your phone are things which Google provided via the Market. You agree to that as a condition of getting stuff from the Market. Don't like it, don't use the Market.

With your strawman, you are arguing that they don't have any right to take things they didn't give you in the first place. You're correct, and Google doesn't claim to have any right to take things you installed by other means. Feel free to use the ADK or a non-Google alternative. You can decide whether their TsOS are more or less onerous than Googles.

Crap, I buggered up the app store links:

• SlideMe
• AndAppStore

i swear, both apple and google are badly mismanaging their respective app stores.

still, there are alternatives to android marketplace. http://slideme.org/ is probably the biggest, with http://andappstore.com/AndroidApplications/apps/!index close behind.

http://andappstore.com/

When I see any of these, I say to myself $1000/yr. Thats what these things cost, a vacation to Mexico!
I entered the ADC2, and if you took a poll, you would find that 1/2 of the entrants don't actually own an Android (including me), because its financially unjustified.

IMHO, Three things are needed, one of which has almost occurred.
1. A superbabe (not Whoopi sorry) needs to hold an Android on T-Mobile site.
2. Skype or such needs to work as well as T-Mobile voice, better would be nice.
3. The phone must cost US$99.

Back-Seat-Driver

Why is Google launching Micello on the iPhone?
I am an Android game developer and its getting tough to justify my effort.
Not only are we the stepchild on Micello, but they let users try apps for 48 hours for free.
The only glory I see is entering the Android Challenge (ADC), big whoop.
Does anyone have any insight as to whats in it for us disciples?

Non iPhone app

This should be handled by insurance, not Big Brother. If you wreck, you pay higher premium. OR perhaps I should create a j2me app called was-the-dude-texting?
jp
Back Seat Driver

The paid apps setup in the market is a serious mistake.

I think andappstore.com has gotten the security model right. It requires some work on the developer's part, but it provides for strong copy protection, and works on the dev phone.

Compare this to Android, where the user doesn't have root access and is locked out the filesystem. The Android developer is similarly fucked -- she can't just package his application as a file and send it off to whoever but must submit it for approval and then, if the overlords deign to approve, can only distribute it through their app store.

*cough* *cough* *wheeze*