[NotPractical]

> Your banking app is not going to work on Linux either.

I think the idea is that no amount of forking Android is going to produce something different enough to entice developers to port their apps to it, but maybe if an entirely new Linux-based mobile platform kicks off, there's a chance?

If you have to consult `developer.android.com` (a Google-owned domain) to develop for your "totally not Android" platform, it may be difficult to avoid the temptation to do as the documentation recommends and simply embrace proprietary Google services and hardware attestation and whatnot. After all, 99% of users have those things and it's just these several weird forks that don't?

[dtech]

I highly doubt devs are interested in developing apps for such a niche mobile OS outside of hacker circles.

Windows Phone failed because even paying devs for apps couldn't entice them to do so.

[NotPractical]

I think what these people are looking for, really, is an alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly that provides more control and less tracking, not necessarily Linux (yes, I know the title of the post is "we need GNU/Linux"). Companies like Framework prove that there's a nontrivial number of people looking for devices like this.

Windows Phone was around during the time that carrying a smartphone on your person at all times was optional, and we didn't have critical government and banking services being delivered exclusively through apps that only work on Google Android and Apple iOS. I suspect that if Windows Phone had survived, and managed to keep even a tiny fraction of the market share, these apps would nonetheless be forced to support it because they would have to account for at least some of their customers using it.