Can Android manufacturers ship devices with forks of Android? This is a tricky and intimidating question for OEMs, and Google probably liked it. The contracts that Android OEMs sign with Google, which are required to license the Play Store and other Google apps, explicitly state that “there will be no forks.”Google says the Android fork will hurt the Android ecosystem, so OEMs should make a commitment never to be involved in the production of devices that run the Android fork. Some regulators, notably in the EU, have ruled that the no-forks clause in the Android contract is illegal and that Google cannot penalize OEMs that go outside the walled garden. However, the EU does not control the whole world, therefore,
A new report by Janko Roettgers from the protocol says that Google is waiving this restriction, at least for TVs. The report says that Google and Amazon have “cut a deal”to allow Android makers to produce Fire TV OS TVs, and that TCL, Xiaomi and Hisense will offer products in both ecosystems. TCL has already announced a series of lovingly named “CF63K Fire TVs “- 4K 60Hz Fire TV displays with Amazon Alexa. The company also produces sets with Android TV and Roku software. Xiaomi, a die-hard Android OEM, also announced a Fire TV TV this May.
Google’s agreements with manufacturers are confidential, so it’s been years since we’ve seen manufacturers consistently agree to. However, in general, the story goes that the Android platform codebase is open source, while Google apps are not. All manufacturers looking to build a viable product need access to the Play Store, all of the major APIs blocked in Play Services, and amazing Google apps like YouTube and Google Maps. All of these apps (and the Android name, a registered trademark of Google) must be licensed, and that license contains an “anti-fragmentation”agreement that prevents manufacturers from running devices that don’t have a Google-approved version installed. Android. If a manufacturer creates a forked device and violates this contract, Google may revoke the Google app license and remove them from the Android ecosystem. Competition Commission of India investigationrepeats many of these moments, but, unfortunately, all the juicy moments are edited.
Despite the fact that manufacturers have apparently received permission from Google to release devices for competitors, Google still remains silent. The minutes say that “officially, Google’s position remains unchanged”and the company provided a statement indicating that these anti-fragmentation rules are still in effect. However, the rules clearly do not work, and the EU has ordered Google specifically not to introduce them. Xiaomi TVs and TCL Fire TVs are only announced for Europe, so maybe Google has different rules for different places. The proof will be which devices ship to which countries.