[Joeri]

Everybody lost the mobile OS war.

Apple lost it by getting boxed into a market share corner by android. Google lost it by losing control over android. Android OEM's lost it by getting stuck in a cutthroat competition. Microsoft lost it by being microsoft. Users lost it by having no good choices left (either go with the golden cage iphone, or go with the privacy and security mess android).

[eloisant]

Google regained control of Android many years ago by progressively moving every bit that matters from AOSP to Google Apps and Google Play Services.

Now OEM have to obey to Google because losing the Google apps and services licence (thus losing the Play store and the whole ecosystem) basically means they're dead as an Android manufacturer.

[hooluupog]

Except china.

[scholia]

And except Amazon ;-)

[willhslade]

Can you elaborate for people not in the loop as much?

[scholia]

Android is pretend-open. Technically, you have to use Google Play to use the Android name. If you use AOSP then you lose the store and Google's proprietary apps, so you have to build an alternative store and plead for third-arty app support.

That works in China because Google is relatively weak there. It also works for Amazon, which has its own store for Fire products.

[toyg]

> Apple lost it by getting boxed into a market share corner by android.

Apple was never likely to license iOS to other manufacturers, nor were they likely to have enough capacity to satisfy the whole market. I reckon they are where they always wanted to be: owning a very profitable and locked-in niche.

[mamon]

>> Apple lost it by getting boxed into a market share corner

You mean the corner where they are the premium smartphone vendor, taking 90% share of global profits? That's a great corner to be boxed into :)

[ysavir]

Profits and usage are different categories. Apple might be taking more money home, but that's not what is being discussed. The points being made were about having control and influence over the ecosystem.

[kbutler]

Do web developers feel like their applications must support iOS? Why?

Because iOS users are a significant source of potential profit.

Apple doesn't need to maximize usage in order to control the ecosystem - they just need to maximize profit potential.

[cptskippy]

Our team has become more and more focused on supporting two platforms with our App Development effort, Apple and Samsung. 75% of our users have an iPhone 5S or newer. The remaining 25% is a mix of Android, other iOS devices and older iPhones. Of the Android users, 80% are using some Samsung device.