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Comment by drivebyacct2 | Hacker News Reader

It's not the same brand as open source "free", but access to the Google apps is indeed free.

It's not free (as in beer) to OEMs, who have to pay buy a license to put Google Play and/or apps onto their devices.

>but access to the Google apps is indeed free

It certainly is not free. Either the OEM who sold the device to you paid off Google for your access(i.e included in the hardware cost you paid the OEM) or you have to violate copyright(along with whoever uploaded them to the host who is vulnerable to a DMCA takedown) to get those apps.

Can you find me a legal link to some or any Google apps .apk file(s) to load on to, say the Kindle Fire?

I don't know about legality (although I know they're widely distributed on reputable sites and Google hasn't taken them down), but my HP Touchpad has the Android market installed including access to all Google apps.

I have a Touchpad with Android on it too :)

I would disagree on the "reputable" part. Which reputable sites are they distributed on?

I was linked to the apk on XDA, which, while it's a hacking site, I wouldn't describe it as disreputable. At the very least, it's high profile.

You are right in that access to the core "gapps" is commercially restricted to whose who have deals in place with Google.

Speaking as a purely practical matter, as an end-used you can easily get "gapps" builds for virtually any Android device though technically you will be violating copyright (unless you are using those "gapps" as a replacement for a 'backup' of the distribution that came with your phone originally).

After a botched cease-and-desist on Cyanongenmod back a few years ago (2009?) Google turns a blind eye to this sort of sharing of gapps. I've never heard of them taking any action against any gapps provider since that whole C&D debacle despite the fact that these files are shared openly all over the place.

They definitely wouldn't turn a blind eye to an OEM distributing them illegally, though. OEMs shipping Android phones pay Google licensing for the Play Store, Gmail app, etc. From what I understand, most Android OEMs also pay Microsoft royalties per handset.

In other words, these are definitely not free to the end user, the cost is just incorporated into the overall price of the phone.

No. This is not true. It's not free as in freeware or shareware or open source, I already conceded that. But Google does not charge for access to the apps. If you want to package them with your device, all that they require is that you talk with them and ensure you pass the compatibility toolkit.

OEMs do not pay Google in exchange for bundling Google Apps.

>If you want to package them with your device, all that they require is that you talk with them and ensure you pass the compatibility toolkit.

>OEMs do not pay Google in exchange for bundling Google Apps

Do you have a reference to those two points? A lot of the small Android tablet OEMs have a lot of trouble getting Google apps.

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