No Android trace. The Keynote of Google I / or is finished and it has been clear what we are all planning: Gemini is omnipresent and Android does not enter the equation. This year, Google has decided to separate it with a small presentation. It has been the first time that Android has not been taken into account.
In another context, it could simply be a gesture to give more importance to AI, but it hides much more. It is a symbol that the moment has happened. Time to let Android follow his own path.
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Android and Google, separate roads. For a long time, mobiles are the battlefield. And there, Android was Google's winning horse. Now the thing has changed. The battle is in artificial intelligence and all the homes are on Gemini. Android has become a platform very far from Google Business Core. A dominant, mature and consolidated platform, but not necessary for the future of Google.
Google wanted manufacturers such as Samsung, Xiaomi or Huawei to extend services such as Google Maps, Gmail or the search engine. But for years, it is no longer necessary. Currently, Google does not care that a manufacturer uses Android or bet on its own operating system. Even Apple, the relationship has changed. The majority of Google applications are intended for iPhone and should even end up arriving in iOS. Android was an excuse for offering Google services, now it is no longer necessary.
The biggest change of Android 16 … is not Android. The new version of Android has been bringing the biggest overhaul for years. Expressive equipment 3 is a big change that will give our mobile a new image. But the problem is that it is not the “Android design”, but the “Google design”. A priori are synonyms, but it should not be. Android applications can have any type of design and customization layers such as a user interface or hyperos are also far from what we see in the pixel.
If we go to the safety of Android 16, we are in a similar situation. The new features announced during the Android emission will be available for most manufacturers but not via the Android code itself, but via the updates of Google Play Protect and specific applications installed by default such as Google Messages or the telephone application.
After the speech, there was a hole for a conference for Android developers, but Google's new features were focused on Gemini for Android Studio and how to create applications for the new Android XR platform.
Android is open source … but he does not want to give clues to Harmonyos. What was for what bajiniBut in March this year, we met a very transcendent news for the future of the operating system. This did not mean that Android would stop being open source, but each AOSP publication has been decided to delay to promote the interests of Android's “partners”.
What does that mean? Basically, Google shares the progress of Android manufacturers, but will not do it at the same time as with everyone. Involvement? That Chinese manufacturers like Huawei who develop Harmonyos as a direct alternative to Android will not have such rapid access to improvements and cannot be planned to create their own versions.
If Google wants to stop being a monopoly … you have to sell things. The antitrust trial is the biggest legal challenge in Google's history and has the potential to change from top to bottom of the business. From Google, they are very aware and their transformation around Gemini is not an accident. The sale of chrome concerns what has been the most treated, but the United States Ministry of Justice also offered Google the possibility of selling Android as a possible solution.
Epic rubs your hands. The problem with Google was that it took advantage of the wide range of Android to its advantage. And he also imposed developer commissions, through the Play Store, pre-installing in all mobiles. This is what led companies like Epic Games to denounce the situation. In the case of Android and Google, alternatives such as F-Droid had more free road, but others such as epic games had to promote their store according to constant offers.
In the background, the problem is equivalent to that of Apple. A company which, depending on safety and visibility, has linked its application store to the operating system, creating a vicious circle difficult to leave.
Why not Google Play in iOS? Forcing Google for sale Android would be pleasant news for companies such as Epic Games, but also for companies with their own application store such as Huawei or Apple itself. On the one hand, Google would have no incentives to block these application stores, but on the other hand would you open a question: why Google Play Android but not in iOS?
At the time, Google was an independent Android company, the possibility of seeing Google playing in iOS would be much more feasible. In a way, equivalent to the way Gmail, Google Maps or the search engine can be found in iOS, the application store could also do so. Another thing is that Apple see it in the same way.
Android does not have to sell the competition. With Chrome, one of the first volunteers to buy the browser was OpenAi. With Android, we do not doubt that the list of potential buyers is very important. However, going from Google to Microsoft, Openai or a large software company would be just as problematic.
The new owner of Android should be able to maintain the open gasoline of the operating system. Otherwise, the same regulatory agencies that wish to force the sale could prevent it.
What options would there? The simplest is an independent company created for the occasion. In fact, Google could transform Android into a company under the alphabet umbrella, but separated from Google. It would be the simplest commitment solution, without being completely disconnected.
Currently, the `Android 'brands, the logo and the secondary brands belong to Google, although the development of the platform is carried out jointly with the Open Handset Alliance, an organization which has been overshadowed for many years but could easily recover its importance.
Another step would be to leave Android in the hands of a group of different investors. An alliance has only created to manage the future of the platform. The most revolutionary solution would be to sell Android to a consolidated company. Barely one of the current members of the platform would not be accepted. This eliminates Samsung, Motorola or Xiaomi, among others.
Android is already a large “neutral” umbrella. In Android, pixels are more mobiles. They appreciate Google's love and are among the first to update the latest versions, as we saw with Android 16. But from Android, they place the Samsung galaxy at the same height, Motorola, nothing or Xiaomi. These major manufacturers who agreed with Google to receive the latest news. If Android was independent, this relationship with the manufacturers would be even more neutral, but the bases are already there.
Why is Google in charge of Android? The own Android website explains it:
“Google allocates the professional engineering resources necessary to ensure that Android is a completely competitive software platform. Likewise, it considers that the Android project is a large-scale product development operation and performs the trade agreements necessary to ensure that Android devices go to the market.”
“The Android Engineering team focuses on a small quantity of” bad “devices and develops the next version of the Android software to admit the outings of these products. These flagship devices absorb a large part of the risk of the product and open the way to the large OEM community.”
Android XR, Pero Google Beam. Google has published two platforms, but one of them carries Android while the other carries Google. What is happening is that in the case of Google Beam, they also collaborate with other manufacturers such as HP.
With smart and Android XR glasses, the role of manufacturers is essential to create devices. Android XR collects a need for industry, Google Beam, no one asked. In the case of Android's independence, this sector would also be separated.
It is interesting to note that Google describes Android XR as the “first platform that puts AI to orientation”. They clearly refer to Gemini, but the door is also open to use perplexity, Chatppt or other assistants.
Google wants to continue with Android, but is prepared for what can happen. If the judges do not force Google to sell, the company has a few reasons to get rid of a platform with both litters as an endrock. The company does not intend to get rid of Android and continues to invest resources in its development. But Pichai is prepared and in this Google I / or 2025, it was obvious.
Fortunately, in the same way that Google has its goal far beyond Android, the operating system itself is Maduro to live and triumph without the presence of Google.
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