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Comment by ktta | Hacker News Reader

While people think this is a move to curl illicit app activity(which is the cover issue), I think there's a much bigger motive. It's the fight against Amazon.

Depending on how strictly this is enforced, now Amazon Fire Tablet users won't be able to use Google Play store (they were able to with an apk till now) which cuts off access to the app ecosystem on the Google Play Store.

Now there are quite a few apps on Amazon's App store[1], but obviously many users will feel the pain.

So now they will not have access to the following - Google Assistant, Google Home and Google Maps which will hurt the most.

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b/ref=topnav_storetab_mas...

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Amazon doesn't want their tablets to have the Play Store (they don't come with it pre-installed), I don't really get your point.

>Amazon doesn't want their tablets to have the Play Store

Sure, but their customers do. It will be a lot less attractive option for some people if Google comes out with its own tablet, since it will have Google and Amazon's apps (setting aside the possibility of price difference)

I also partly agree with what habura said.

I think Amazon does care about the Google Play at bit because the developer fees on the apps go to Amazon rather than Google.

On the other hand it is also more about the services ecosystem that Amazon and Google are offering.

Take the following:

1. Cloud storage - Google Drive vs Amazon Drive

2. Digital content stores(books, movies, etc)

3. Music Subscription. (this came later, but still helps my point)

Amazon might've weighted the above and thought that if it has a monopoly of these services, people would go with Amazon rather than Google's services, since it will be available on more devices.

Note: This is all speculation, and even maybe as another user called it, a 'baseless conspiracy theory' so take it with a grain of salt. Longterm corporate decisions are hard to decode with confidence.

> if Google comes out with its own tablet

Yes, I get that Google is not really pressed in the tablet space (as it seems to be dead in the water, no new shiny tables for ages), but this interpretation reads too much into Google's tablet strategy. (Which is so far to concentrate on mobiles, and pay lip service to the tablet line by simply allowing Acer et al. to use a/the Google brand.)

> developer fees

??? So far Google Play dev account is free, of course Firebase is expensive as fuck.

>reads too much into Google's tablet strategy

It does, but sure puts Google in a good position if it needs to. Even right now even if Google doesnt make tablets, it would rather have other companies which are cooperative (get the Android CTS) get the edge. I assume you've heard of the passive aggressive fight between then.

>Google Play dev account is free

I was talking about the 30% store cut that Google gets for paid apps. Also you need to pay $25 to have a developer account, so that's not free either

Hm, we have a published app, and continue to pay $0 for it. But looking at search results the 25 was already there in 2014, so ... maybe it's just for new accounts?

> strategy

Agreed! The embrace extend and E-something always works wonders, even if you don't do it, you just have to be in the position to be able to do it.

I imagine Amazon wouldn't be opposed to preinstalling the Play Store. But getting permission from Google to do that comes with a long list of requirements. You are either at the mercy of Google's requirements and conditions or you develop replacements for every Google App (which are way more than most users realize). Amazon are basically the only company daring to try the latter path.

Amazon likes to have control over what is available in the app store... so they made their own.

But its users want.

This would explain why Amazon refuses to add support for chromecast to their streaming service.

Its too bad Prime Video does not have chromecast even on proper Andriod devices. It is sort of annoying. I do not use Prime Video with Chromecast/Google Assistant because of this. Why not support it? Given that everything else (Spotify, Netflix, etc.) supports Chromecast/Google Assistant, why not this?

I'm being spited in the service of platform wars. Argh.

Because they want you in their ecosystem with their version of chromecast and their assistant.

Great point, if this is the case, huge attack on Amazon.

Is it really though? I doubt a large percentage of Kindle users actually go through the trouble of sideloading gapps.

Plus I bet Amazon would welcome this if they did. Just more users for Amazon's own app store and ecosystem.

Or if Google comes out and starts restricting more things, it just might result in users choosing other Android options. Samsung tablets are an option.

As usual, this is a baseless conspiracy theory that doesn't even make sense.

It would be baseless if ROMs aren't allowed to have them. But they do, hence my conspiracy theory isn't asinine.

Also, I bet this will do nothing to the Chinese tablets side-loading Google's Apps.

The first thing I did after I got my FireHD8 was to sideload google apps. But the side effect was losing the battery life and making my tablet useless. I then did a factory reset and just sideloaded MoonReader and that was it. The battery lasts longer now.

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