Yes, thank you for the review. Can you speak a little about the Qik app: two-way calling? Can you call Desktop clients? Also: Can you use Skype from the App Market? Like in the VZW DROID ads?
I agree, Google should stop these shenanigans. So, Qik calling Desktop clients: possible? Does Skype have an exclusivity contract with VZW? For how long?
Google doesn't own Skype... so they can't do that kind of thing. It's not Google's fault and it has nothing to do with Android being "open". It's called business.
Google controls Android. Google could have said NO to the exclusivity contract, since the DROID is a "Google Experience" device.
The control the OS and the MarketPlace. and I can sure as heck bet you that anyone developing for android marketplace signs a EULA or something similar.
google didnt sign the contract. the droid is made my motorola and its not a droid exclusive or android exclusive. its a verizon exlusive. so any verizon phone can get it, WIN MO, android, BB, etc. only thing google has control over is the OS. not the device. the deal was between verizon and skype, no one else
That makes no sense. The fact that the Droid is a Google Experience device has absolutely no influence over Verizon's business choices.
Correct, but Google does get to choose what apps they allow on a device branded with the "Google Experience" label. That's why older HTC Sense devices and MOTOBLUR and so on don't have those labels.
Microsoft can't control it if Adobe and Dell enter into an exclusivity agreement, for example. To think otherwise is just foolish.
Bottom line, Google could have made it against the terms of licensing Android or the terms of placing apps in the marketplace. Doesnt matter whos hardware it runs on, its googles OS and googles marketplace. Do you think you can buy a copy of Windows and then start making copies and selling it because you come to an agreement with some other random person?
Agreed, but mobile devices are different. Let's take another well-known example. If AT&T and Skype enter an exclusivity agreement, that doesn't mean anything to Apple; the Skype app would still have to be approved by Apple. Google controls the Google Experience branding. It can also exclude apps from its App Market.
If Microsoft banned Adobe apps from their WP7 devices/app store and Dell makes a WP7 device and tells Adobe they can make apps and put it on the store and make it available to Dell devices, then Microsoft could put the stop to it. OS' are licensed and developers sign agreements when developing/posting apps for platforms. To think otherwise is foolish.
This really makes no difference. It's not like Verizon bought a copy of skype and is illegally loading it onto each device. I'm really not sure what your example is demonstrating, besides a lack of sense.
What part of GOOGLE CONTROLS THE MARKETPLACE AND THE LICENSING OF ITS OPERATING SYSTEM do you not understand? Do you think when you buy a copy of Windows that you can do whatever you want with it? You agree to licensing terms, as do handset makers creating Android phones, as do devlopers putting their apps in the marketplace. It seems like you are the idiot here.
So are you sure that Skype signed an agreement with Google that says "In order for you to develop on our platform, you have to conform to these rules, including not signing any carrier exclusive agreements?" Would LOVE to see that contract. That is your assumption, right?
Here ya go. Section 5.2. Android.com It grants Google a nonexclusive license to distribute the app as it sees fit.
And BTW, there are LOTS of Apps that are carrier exclusive that are carried on the Android Market. In fact, I'm pretty sure that verizon has their own special section of the App store, where only Verizon subscribers can get certain things. Their NFL app is one that comes to mind. I mean Google seems REALLY PISSED at VZW, so pissed in fact they gave them their own special branch of the marketplace
I didnt say that they DID have that provision in the agreement, only that they SHOULD to prevent highly anticipated apps from being segmented to certain carriers or handset makers. Android is about openness and choices, it should stay that way.
I'm not arguing that there aren't carrier-specific sections. I'm arguing that Google has the right to put an end to them, in the name of a truly open platform.
Ok, explain the NFL mobile then. Its pretty obvious that Verizon has an agreement in place that amends that agreement.
Again, I'm not saying Google actually disallows these things. I'm just saying that they CAN and that they SHOULD.
Why SHOULD they? That would hurt the carriers and limit differentiation. If a carrier wants to spend the money and time to develop and incorporate something exclusive to them, why should that be available to everybody else? Just because I buy a HP computer with Kapersky anti-virus on it doesn't mean somebody who buys a Dell should get it for free too.
