alt Hacker News>> Google’s Android—and [Open Handset Alliance] members are contractually prohibited from building non-Google approved devices
>So to compete you'd have to create a compatible Google Play Services as well as find a supporting manufacturer. Samsung managed their own competing apps and store [2] for a while along with Tizen, likely for leverage or theoretical pivot. But has since dropped that effort.
What's wrong with the upcoming partnership with Motorola where they work with grapheneos to get it suppported, but it's not preloaded?
It's a nice effort, but without preinstalls you aren't going to capture the market except for the tiny percentage of enthusiasts which are maybe a fraction of a percent of the market.
Google needs to experience real competitive pressure, and you need preinstalls for that.
Same story for year of the Linux desktop. It's doomed to 5% or less of market share without preinstalls (which Valve & the various other PCs now releasing with SteamOS are changing)
But also, prohibiting OEMs from making or partnering with "non Google approved" OSes is ridiculous and I'm surprised that hasn't been challenged in court yet as an abuse of monopoly power.