Google To Require As Many As 20 of Its Apps Preinstalled On Android Devices

schwit1 writes Google is looking to exert more pressure on device OEMs that wish to continue using the Android mobile operating system. Among the new requirements for many partners: increasing the number of Google apps that must be pre-installed on the device to as many as 20, placing more Google apps on the home screen or in a prominent icon folder and making Google Search more prominent. Earlier this year, Google laid its vision to reduce fragmentation by forcing OEMs to ship new devices with more recent version of Android. Those OEMs that choose not to comply lose access to Google Mobile Services (GMS) apps like Gmail, Google Play, and YouTube.

Comments

It's sad

[Anonymous Coward]

When a company moves from innovating to abusing its market share, it's usually not a good sign.

Re:It's sad

[TechyImmigrant]

When a company moves from innovating to abusing its market share, it's usually not a good sign.

Except when you get a phone with an old version of Android and loads of proprietary bloatware 'innovation' the phone sucks in ways it would not suck if it just had the up-to-date integrated Google app suite and android versions.

In this instance, the more Google succeeds, the better the products are.

Re:It's sad

[Noah Haders]

For certain values of "better". If this is truly better, why is CM so popular.

Re:It's sad

[gstoddart]

Well, some of the google apps are considered bloatware by some of us.

The constant nagging to sign up for Google+, the automatic creation of accounts and the like.

I prefer to use YouTube anonymously, if at all. Not so long ago on my Nexus 7 tablet, the app decided that I must have intended to sign up for a YouTube account and created one for me ... YouTube had its data cleared and was immediately disabled.

Google has been a little too pushy with some of their services. I don't want your damned Google+, I'm not interested in it ... stop telling me I need the damned thing.

I agree the proprietary bloatware is crap, and that's why I bought a Nexus branded tablet ... but don't think for a minute Google isn't also doing some annoying things.

Sometimes, just launching one of their own apps can change your account in ways you didn't expect, and don't get told about.

Re:It's sad

[ganjadude]

most people who use CM still sideload google apps, I know I do

Re:It's sad

[Anonymous Coward]

1) Remember when simply bundling IE was a monopoly abuse? Google is behaving in exactly the same way, only corporatism has grown so powerful over the last 15 years that the Overton window extends infinitely off in one direction;

2) There are loads of better options to Google's own apps. The first thing I do on an Android device reset is to install Link2SD and freeze most of the Android apps (and OEM apps, but there are fewer of them);

3) The usual problem is with the base OS not being updateable, and with many built-in apps therefore not being updated either (my Messaging and Browser and Phone apps on Android 2.3.7 have been updated... never).

Re:It's sad

[Andy Dodd]

Much of why CM and other AOSP-derivative projects are popular is to get rid of carrier and OEM bloatware. Very few people don't install gapps, and while some of the gapps packagers (such as PA) now offer "micro" gapps packages with most of the unnecessary Google apps installed, the package recommended by CM (as in, linked from their wiki) is a complete one.

This is effectively Google's response to OEMs (especially Samsung) putting on atrocious crapware that was ruining the Android experience for many users. e.g. "this is why OEMs can't have nice things".

One of the biggest issues is that sometimes the OEM crapware would constantly hound you to create an account with the OEMs own ecosystem. Google's stuff, at least, usually doesn't hound you if you click "no" during the initial Google account setup. Samsung, on the other hand, would constantly spam me with persistent notifications until I rooted and removed their crap. Also, OEM/carrier crapware was far more likely to do funky stuff in the background without the user's knowledge/approval than GMS.

Re:It's sad

[Anonymous Coward]

Just continuing the tradition of other apples in human history...

This is aimed at carriers like Verizon Wireless

[NJRoadfan]

They are known for pushing their in-house apps above Google's or the handset manufacturer's. They also had that deal with Microsoft that made Bing the default search engine on all their phones ("Droid" branded ones excluded, the rest of their Android phones did have it).

Re:Disabled

[kthreadd]

Is there a reason why these programs can only be "disabled," not "removed?"

Re:Disabled

[david.given]

Android devices have a read-write partition and a read-only partition. Out-of-the-box apps go in the read-only partition. There are several reasons for this, one of which is safety --- you can nuke the entire read-write partition and be sure of (a) getting a working factory reset phone and (b) that all user data has been deleted.

If an app's in the read-only partition, then it obviously can't be removed. (Although you can install updates --- the new versions go in the read-write partition and override the read-only one.) All you can do is mark it disabled.

(Of course, if you've rooted your phone, you can remount the read-only partition as read-write and tinker with it to your heart's content. I do this to move updated apps into the read-only partition to save space in the read-write partition. But that only works on rooted phones.)

So when does GOOG get an EU lawsuit?

[YrWrstNtmr]

How is this different from Microsoft and bundling IE?

worse than crapware

[frovingslosh]

Actually, it is crapware, at least as I see it. I have no use for social media sites and I'm not a 13 year old girl, so I'm never going to use anything named "Hangouts". If I have to have it installed on my device and I'm never going to use it then it is crapware.

I'm also never going to buy DRM infested books and audio, and if I have to have DRM in my video at least I'm going to buy it on a real piece of physical media, not as a low bit rate crippled download that can go away or might even be taken away at a whim. So the apps that deal with Google selling me stuff that I'll never ever buy are crapware to me.

But it is worse than the crapware installed on a laptop. While the manufacturers think nothing of selling a laptop with an undersized hard disk ad then filling that disk space with crapware, at least I can uninstall the crapware on a laptop and recover the space. On Android, by Google's own design, you can't simply uninstall the crap that has been pre-loaded on your tablet. Significant amounts of very limited flash memory get taken up and are not recovered by a simple uninstall. Even worse, the crap runs, taking resources, and even gets updated, taking more resources and risking an update that might introduce a problem to the tablet, all for software that I didn't want in the first place.

If Google would simply allow this stuff to be easily removed from an Android system, then I could support their requiring the vendors to include it with a new system. But until that happens, it is another case of Google being evil.

Re:worse than crapware

[Archangel Michael]

Hangouts is not just IM. It is also a fully functioning VOIP client, especially if you use gVoice. Really handy when you don't want to give out your Cell number, but want them to be able to call you. Don't dismiss it, if you don't use it. The fact it also does IM, and Video IM (similar to Skype/GotoMeeting) is also nice. And the ability to do desktop sharing has caused me to almost stop using TeamViewer.

It has finally become a very useful application.

I find it funny that a number of people who "don't want to be tracked" are using Smartphones at all. The only way to "not be tracked" is go all Unibomber and live off the grid.

Re:Root it

[sinij]

>>>They can be removed if you have unlocked the bootloader and flashed an OS image that contains su. Then you can become root, remount the OS partition read-write, and remove the apps completely.

This is why mobile space computing devices will always be toys in my eyes. They system designed to dictate how you suppose to use it. Sure, with enough effort you could bypass and regain control that should have been there from the beginning.

As for quoted response - imagine buying a PC during 90s era where you didn't have enough permission to uninstall AOL. Plus you'd get prompted for AOL credentials to use unrelated productivity software. Even MS in its prime wasn't that evil. Google, on other hand...

Re:Android version req - long time coming

[tibit]

You can disable pretty much all Google services and they won't occupy any RAM (System Memory) when you do so. I thought that was like Android 101. Just because those apps are stored on the Flash doesn't mean they have to be running. You also don't need to update them if you don't use them - go to Settings, Apps, go through all Google apps that you don't use and [Uninstall Updates] followed by [Disable] on each one of them. You need to disable automatic app updates as well, otherwise the apps will get updated and will occupy the Internal Memory (FLASH).

Re: Apples and Oranges

[Flytrap]

You couldn't be more wrong... the point made by Anonymous Coward (no, not you... the first Anonymous Coward) is valid and is informed by legal precedent set during the Microsoft anti trust case.

• 1. Apple has a less than 15% market share... they may be very influential, but I hardly doubt that anything that they do could be construed to be abuse of market share.
• 2. Apple can only dictate iOS requirements to itself since it is the only OEM using iOS. If they make decisions that are bad for the only iOS OEM, Apple are the only OEM to pay the price, not Samsung, HTC, Huawei, LG, Xiaomi or Motorola.
• 3. Google should be able to dictate how Android is configured for its Nexus line of handsets; but, just as Microsoft was accused of bulling tactics for insisting that Windows OEM licensees had to make Internet Explorer the default browser to maintain their most treasured partner statuses, Google finds itself in a similar position for insisting that OEMs must pre-install Google services (even when the OEM has its own competing alternatives) or risk losing access to high value Google services that are not easily substitutable. By having such an overwhelming market share such that OEM's have very few alternative options, Google could be attracting the same attention that Microsoft attracted when they did the same thing with their market share.

So, just to set the record straight... if Jonny Ive and Craig Federighi decide to screw Dan Riccio over by making onerous demands that the hardware engineering team much comply with in order to qualify to run the next version of iOS, the worst that could happen would be that Apple could have no new hardware to ship their fancy new operating system on next year. There would be howls of protest from investors, mobile network operators and customers... but Apple would be the biggest loser... not their competitors.

When they a) unlawfully b) abuse c) monopoly d) an

[raymorris]

Microsoft was busted for abusing their monopoly power to engage in unlawful, anti-competitive practices.

For example, in Microsoft internal emails, executives discussed the fact that they understood they were hurting their own company, in order to hurt the competitor more. It's okay to try to make your product better than the other guy - that's competition. Intentionally making your product worse, in order to cause compatibility problems for the other guy, is not okay.

99.99% of the time that's self-regulating - most companies can't go around intentionally harming their own company and products or they'll go out of business. A monopoly is a special case. In 1996 Microsoft had 99% share of the desktop market. Therefore they could intentionally damage the computer industry, costing themselves $4 billion, if by doing so they'd cost Netscape $3 billion and put Netscape out of business. Any ordinary company purposely costing themselves $3 billion would be committing suicide, but for a monopolist losing $4 billion in order to make your much smaller competitor go out of business is a "smart" move. That kind of thing is why there are laws about what a monopoly power can do and not do.

Android has 51% of the market. They aren't a monopoly. If Google purposely creates a problem that makes Android worse, in order to also cause a problem for iOS, Microsoft would be jumping for joy. Microsoft only has 3.5% of the market, but they also have $380 billion to spend taking advantage of anything stupid Google might do.

So Google isn't a monopoly, and their actions are competitive, not anti-competitive (in the legal sense).

Do you also wonder about the difference between what Hans Rieser did and what Miley Cyrus did at the MTV awards?

Re:Android version req - long time coming

[thegarbz]

but 20 different applications sounds awfully overbearing.

The reason this sounds overbearing is that not all apps are immediately customer visible. Consider looking up the Play Store and search by the vendor Google Inc. and you'll get a lot of things that your phone already has by default without you realising:

Search
Text-To-Speech Engine
Chrome
Youtube
Play
Maps
Drive
Keyboard
Voice Search
Google Now
Google Cloud Print

These apps are already part of nearly every Android install as it is. Some of the rest of the 20 can be due to Google's (IMO silly) decision to split Play store content by type:

Play Newsstand
Play Books
Play Movies
Play Games
Play Music

So what is really left? 4 apps? I probably won't notice or care if 4 additional apps are installed on my phone, especially if it eliminates some of the crapware that already comes with it.

Not all "crapware" is "crapware" when you realise that they are functions of a system that you already use. i.e. do you consider the Windows Print Spooler crapware too? As usual the article is sensationalist and people are freaking out.