A leaked document obtained by MobileBloom could signal that big changes may be afoot, in terms of Google’s current policy towards third-party smartphone manufacturers and allowing them to bundle previous iterations of Android OS into their products.
The document reads:
Starting February 2014, Google will no longer approve GMS distribution on new Android products that ship older platform releases.
According to the report, the company is looking to set in stone a requirement that would see all those manufacturers who choose to develop smartphones for the purpose of running the Android operating system, required to follow a single rule. That being, providing the said handset actually gives the user access to the Google Services Framework, and the Google Play Store, it must be running the most recent version of Android OS.
Today, this is not enforced. Instead, manufacturers of mobile Android handsets are able to offer access to the Google Services Framework, and indeed the Play Store, to users without the need to have the handset run the latest and greatest version of Google’s mobile OS.
“Google has been criticized over the years for the fragmentation of the Android operating software and if this policy does go into effect, it will certainly curtail some of that on mobile devices,” Joshua for MobileBloom writes. “There is never a guarantee that it will come to a complete stop, but at least the policy is in place to follow up with.”
While this makes sense from the point-of-view of Google – wanting to give its users the best possible experience of Android, and buying content from the Play Store, the move (if true) would dramatically limit a third-party manufacturer’s ability to sell the same physical handset with multiple versions of Android OS installed.
Then, of course, you have the simple issue of some handsets out there not having the capability to run the latest version of Android OS, which would likely see manufacturers have to step-up their game, and the internals of their handsets, to comply fully with the new ruling.
According to the document, the rule goes into effect “February 2014.”
You are reading Leaked Document Explains Possible New Android Policy which was originally published to RazorianFly by @ArronHirst. You can subscribe to our many available feeds in order to receive daily updates whenever we publish new content, or you can follow us on Twitter at @razorianfly.