Android: Freedom to Innovate

zan
AndroidPub
Published in
3 min readNov 23, 2016

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Nothing in this century has enabled innovation more than the connected, mobile devices we casually call smartphones. And while Apple really ignited this new wave, the openness, flexibility and cost (nothing) of Android have for the better part of a decade driven unparalleled innovation. I am proud to have been part of that new industrial revolution as a developer.

At the same time, governments around the world, and in the European Union in particular, are threatening to undermine the Android ecosystem by making some of Google’s agreements with manufacturers illegal.

These agreements, which include rules about what apps and services must be made available to users by default, have kept a check on fragmentation and generally improved the quality of Android devices. They allow developers the time, energy and market necessary to innovate.

We must not allow the European commission to freeze our best ideas in bureaucratic cement. There is much at stake. Here’s a look at where things stand, both globally and in Europe.

On the hardware side, we now have more than 25,000 devices, including phones, tablets and televisions. Small companies and giant conglomerates alike continue to push wildly different visions of what tiny computers can look like and do. Because these firms don’t have to develop their own operating systems, they are free to invest all of their resources in design and manufacturing. Because their devices will be compatible with thousands of other machines and consumers will know from experience how to operate their products, these companies can compete on the basis of their best ideas in an enormous marketplace.

The same is true on the software side, where developers have access to a billion customers, many of whom can only afford smartphones because Android has driven down the cost. Making smartphones affordable, accessible, and interoperable allows developers big and small to act on their craziest ideas.

Don’t take Spotify for granted. Its model of unlimited streaming is rapidly becoming the predominant way people pay for and consume music, but it wasn’t so long ago it was an unproven and wild idea cooked up in Sweden. Other European startups have generated billions of euros in revenue, and over a million jobs in Europe. SoundCloud, based in Berlin, has 175 million listeners. Runtastic, which is headquartered in Linz, Austria, sold to Adidas last year for $239 million. The company employs 185 people from 31 nations, and their app has been downloaded more than 190 million times.

These companies aren’t simply financially successful. They represent what’s possible when individuals and small teams have big ideas and a platform to spread them.

It’s important to recognise that Android is bigger than any one company. While Google and its hardware partners all compete with Apple and, to some extent, each other, no one is required to buy into their vision of the OS. Amazon has sold millions of tablets and TV streamers running its own forked version of Android. CyanogenMod’s community-built take on Android is used by over 50 million people.

I love that people have the freedom to diverge. Android is open, by design, and that’s what attracted me to it in the first place. But as a developer who has to worry about interoperability and how my app might run on a multitude of devices, I’m glad we’ve finally gotten to a place where the OS is more secure and consistent. Coding to a dozen hardware manufacturers’ unique implementations of Android isn’t my idea of innovation, and I’d prefer my peers in Europe spend their time coming up with another Spotify rather than adapting to forks and fragments.

I would ask the European Commission to consider the cost and benefit of their interference in Android. They jeopardise an ecosystem that is directly benefiting European companies and consumers. For what? If there’s a way to make Android better, then by all means let’s hear it. That’s how our community works. But don’t mess with a good thing on impulse. Be very, very careful. A billion people are standing by.

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zan
AndroidPub

European in London. Developer’s Advocate. Love talking and writing about computers, airplanes, policy, and craft beer. Opinions mine and mine alone. He/Him.