[lern_too_spel]

> Amazon (for example) absolutely did not have this advantage

Google incentivized the OEMs to do that. Amazon could have incentivized OEMs to do that also, but the business plan that Amazon pursued did not involve third parties building their own Kindle devices.

> Or we can look at why Google's Play Store is allowed to auto-update apps without user interaction, and... that's it.

This has never been true for Android in general. This hasn't been true for phones that only ship with the Play Store since Android 12, which I credit Epic for.

[sbuk]

Microsoft also “incentivized” OEMs to not install competing browsers by threatening to remove their OEM licensing. Didn’t Google do something similar?

[lern_too_spel]

No. They just threatened to remove access to the Play Store.

[sbuk]

So, something similar then. OK, not as onerous as removing the whole OS, which they can’t do because Android uses an open license, but the next big thing. No play store, no Google services. May as well remove the OS.

[klez]

> This has never been true for Android in general. This hasn't been true for phones that only ship with the Play Store since Android 12

I'm on Android 14 here, shipped with Play Store by default. It still auto-updates apps.

[Phrodo_00]

Exclusivity hasn't been true. eg F-droid can auto update apps.