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Comment by Smithalicious | Hacker News Reader

So what's the point? You could always install a different browser and search engine, and that really isn't so difficult that an average user couldn't figure it out. I'm all for combating anticompetitive practices but this really doesn't look like one. This just gives me a "users are idiots" vibe.

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> that really isn't so difficult that an average user couldn't figure it out [...] This just gives me a "users are idiots" vibe

It's not a matter of difficulty, but rather a matter of awareness. Based on my experience from friends and family, I have reason to believe there is a significant chunk of Android users who don't know they can use an alternative default browser. Most people just click on the Chrome icon that comes built-in at the bottom of their home screen, and that's all for them. It's not the average HN user we are talking about, obviously...

Yes, and now that average user goes: why can't I use the internet on my phone? It gives me this stupid pop up and I don't know how. Please fix it.

Last LG I bought came with some vanilla non-Chrome browser preinstalled. I don't know if from AOSP or from LG themselves. Has that changed in the last years? If not, how does this affect companies like LG?

Defaults matter. Users don't change defaults unless they have a good reason to, and statistically they don't.

If it didn’t matter, Google wouldn’t pay so much to be the default search engine everywhere.

It's the same as the browser choice system that Microsoft had to implement. I have no doubt that it helped Firefox and then Chrome gain market share. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrowserChoice.eu

Given the amount of trouble a new phone will already give a user, I sincerely doubt the average user wants to spend a lot of time figuring out what the alternatives actually are and how to get them. They want a phone that works right, and they should have a choice about what that means. That's what these laws should be giving them.

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