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by edude03 3643 days ago
I guess it depends on who you are. As a consumer - android is in "shambles" because there isn't one phone that is "perfect" as per original comment. There isn't one phone that is comparable to the iPhone in every regard (equal battery life, stability, camera, accessory compatibility etc) so no matter what you get your experience is "compromised"

As a OEM android is in shambles because despite the fact that android is open, it's very hard to build an experience significantly different than googles. For example, if I wanted to make a phone with different sync behaviour to get better battery life, google wouldn't certify it and then I'd have to ship a phone with no apps. I COULD build my own market, my own version Google Play Services and convince people to use my market (like amazon is trying to do) but that would be very expensive, and likely wouldn't convince users to buy my phone. So I'm forced to build something very similar to other devices on the market, and thus have the same tradeoffs as other OEMs, making competition difficult.

As google, Android is doing great, billions of devices shipped, billions of users, billions of dollars earned.