The Other Android Blueprint: FacebookPhone, TwitterPhone, And Ugh, VerizonPhone?

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3 points·thushan··2 comments

Seeing the crapware cell phone service providers are putting (that can't be removed no less) on their Android devices, thinking of the future outlined in this TC piece makes me wonder how much worse it could get. And we thought the fragmentation of Android was something of concern already...

I think it would be in Google's interest to start some sort of certification program/or requirement that ensures that any device with their logo on it also can run a user installed vanilla straight-from-Google version of Android without the gunk.

That would accelerate crappification as carriers would rather remove the Google logo and apps than remove their crapware. The idea that Google can somehow force carriers to do what they don't want to do is admirable, but it won't work (maybe it would have worked in 2008 when Verizon/Sprint/T-Mobile were desperate for an iPhone alternative). If Google wants vanilla Android phones to reach non-developers they're going to have to make them (and market them, and set up a retail distribution chain, and maybe an MVNO) themselves.

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