Report: Google will graciously let Android OEMs build Amazon Fire devices - Ars Technica

Enlarge / Let's see, you landed connected my "Google Ads" space, and with 3 houses... that volition beryllium $1,400.

Ron Amadeo / Hasbro

Can Android manufacturers vessel devices that tally Android forks? That's a pugnacious and scary question for OEMs to ask, and Google has astir apt liked it that way. The contracts Android OEMs motion with Google—which are needed to licence the Play Store and different Google apps—says, flatly, "no forks." Google says forking Android would harm the Android ecosystem, truthful OEMs indispensable pledge to ne'er beryllium progressive successful the accumulation of a instrumentality that runs a fork of Android. Some regulatory bodies—namely successful the EU—have ruled that the "no forks" clause of the Android declaration is not legal and that Google can't punish OEMs that stray extracurricular the walled garden. The EU doesn't power the full world, though, truthful portion Google can't punish manufacturers wrong the EU, what happens successful the remainder of the world?

Google's anti-fork clause has ever been a large occupation for Amazon, whose Fire OS is the No. 1 Android fork retired there. With astir of the large tech manufacturers someway progressive successful producing Android phones, tablets, TVs, laptops, cars, oregon watches, Amazon has ever had to claw and scrape to find idiosyncratic consenting to marque Fire devices. Amazon complained astir this to the Competition Commission of India past week, saying, "At slightest 7 OEMs person indicated that their quality to participate into a manufacturing narration of this benignant with Amazon is either blocked wholly oregon importantly constricted (e.g., successful presumption of geographic scope) by their contractual commitments to Google." India is Android's biggest market, truthful immoderate rulings determination volition beryllium worthy paying attraction to.

Enlarge / TCL's caller TV runs Amazon's Fire OS, an Android fork.

TCL

A caller study from Protocol's Janko Roettgers says that Google is caving connected this restriction, astatine slightest for televisions. The study says that Google and Amazon person "struck a deal" allowing Android manufacturers to marque TVs that tally Fire TV OS, and that TCL, Xiaomi, and Hisense volition connection products successful some ecosystems. TCL has already announced the lovingly named "CF63K Fire TV series" of televisions—4K, 60 Hz Fire TV displays with Amazon Alexa. The institution besides makes sets with Android TV and Roku software. Xiaomi, a stalwart Android OEM, besides announced a Fire TV set this May.

Google's agreements with manufacturers are confidential, truthful it has been many years since we've gotten a look astatine precisely what manufacturers are perpetually agreeing to. Generally, though, the communicative goes that the Android level codebase is unfastened source, and the Google apps are not. Manufacturers aiming to physique a viable merchandise each request entree to the Play Store, each the halfway APIs locked distant successful Play Services, and slayer Google apps similar YouTube and Google Maps. These apps (and the Android name, a registered trademark of Google) each request to beryllium licensed, and that licence contains an "anti-fragmentation" statement that bans manufacturers from being progressive with a instrumentality that doesn't tally a Google-approved mentation of Android. If a shaper builds a forked instrumentality and violates this contract, Google tin revoke their Google app licence and footwear them retired of the Android ecosystem. The Competition Commission of India's probe reiterates a batch of these points, but sadly each the juicy bits are redacted.

Despite the manufacturers seemingly getting the OK from Google to marque devices for a competitor, Google is inactive keeping things murky. Protocol says that "officially, Google’s presumption remains unchanged," and the institution provided a connection indicating these anti-fragmentation rules are inactive successful place. The rules intelligibly aren't successful place, though, and Google has been ordered by the EU to specifically not person them successful place. The Xiaomi and TCL Fire TVs are lone announced for Europe, truthful possibly Google is going with antithetic rules for antithetic places. The impervious volition beryllium successful what devices vessel successful which countries.