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Google pressures Acer to cancel smartphone running Android rival
Acer has reportedly postponed the launch of a new smartphone running a Chinese-developed Android competitor because Google threatened to retaliate. The PC maker planned to hold a press conference in Shanghai on Thursday to unveil its CloudMobile A800 handset, which is geared toward the Chinese market and runs Aliyun 2.0, an operating system created by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.
However, Acer cancelled the event mere hours before it was expected to jointly unveil the A800 with Alibaba. An Acer executive declined to explain the abrupt change of plans, saying only that the unveiling was axed for a "special reason." However, an unnamed company official quoted in a report on the Dow Jones Newswire said the cancellation is related to Google's concerns over Acer's use of Aliyun.
Speaking with CNET, Alibaba said that Google threatened to end its partnership with Acer if the company supported Aliyun. "Our partner was notified by Google that if the product runs Aliyun OS, Google will terminate its Android-related cooperation and other technology licensing with our partner," CNET's source said, adding that Alibaba understands and respects Acer's decision to delay the A800's launch.
In a different comment on the situation, an Alibaba spokesman said Google's actions are "clearly unfair to consumers." The representative said Alibaba is concerned about how Google's move will impact consumer access to competitive products. "We believe that by introducing the Aliyun OS we are giving consumers and hardware makers more options which is the foundation of a healthy and strong market."
Although most people probably aren't familiar with the A800, the device's launch was a big deal for Acer and Alibaba. Acer is the first major system vendor to build a product with Aliyun OS, which has previously only appeared on Chinese handsets from Haier and Tianyu. The A800 would strengthen Acer's presence in China's smartphone market while expanding the share of Alibaba's nascent mobile OS.
User Comments: 31
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If Google makes a threat of pulling the plug on whatever support (e.g. map or search services) it is providing to ACER for android products, it is clearly an attempt to stop them from launching a product which is going to compete with their platform. I am not sure how I am wrong here.
It will be just like if MS asks HP or Dell to stop selling Servers or Computers with Linux (I.e. a competing platform) backed up by some sort of a threat.
Joining the OHA means you are agreeing to certain rules in order to have early access and support and certain apps. Releasing phone running a forked, non-compatible version of Android is against the rules and Acer knew this. If you are not part of the OHA you can fork and release any fork of Android that you want as long as you do not call it Android or market it as Android compatible (Aliyun did this BTW) but once you are a member you agree to no longer do this or your membership would be revoked (what Acer almost did).
This is the reason that Amazon can release their Kindle with their fork of Android without problem since they are not part of the OHA. If Amazon was part of the OHA their Fire OS would not exist since it would go against the rules setup by the OHA. You can't get all the benefits of a group and try to get all the benefits of other groups at the same time if it violates the rules of the first group. Acer needed to pick life with the OHA and it's benefit or Aliyun and it's benefits and it seems the OHA is a more reliable way to go.
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ReederOnTheRun said:
And you'd still think Microsoft is wrong, even if that "threat" is simply walking away from a deal? These aren't charities, or start up programs, these are business deals. Forcing a company to work with another company solely because that other company wants to one day be another competitor is ridiculous and an idiotic business strategy. That's fine if Acer wants to do that but just like companies before it, there will be sacrifices and it will be a risk for that company if it doesn't succeed. It's not Google's responsibility to help them if success will mean damage to Google.
If we start forcing companies to make unprofitable deals, it will end up decreasing market efficiency and ultimately hurt the consumers. You can learn this in just about any macroeconomics class.
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Android is open source. It is OPEN source. How is it open source with this kind of behavior? What happens if the GNU foundation starts pulling licenses of operators who provide apps for android? Open is open, and you shouldn't punish anyone for using this philosophy. This is just on moral grounds. On other grounds, it's anti competitive.
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1 person liked this |
It is Acer: were you really going to buy an Acer anyway...
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1 person liked this |Android is open source. It is OPEN source. How is it open source with this kind of behavior? What happens if the GNU foundation starts pulling licenses of operators who provide apps for android? Open is open, and you shouldn't punish anyone for using this philosophy. This is just on moral grounds. On other grounds, it's anti competitive.
You seem to be confusing Android with Google they are not the same thing. Android is a free open source OS that anyone can use and alter as they wish, Google is a company that is based on making profit and is not open source (free services does not mean open source BTW). The OHA is a coalition of companies that worked together to create a certain ecosystem based on Android and they set certain rules they must ALL abide by in order to be part of the coalition.
What Acer did was break the rules of the OHA and doing so means they would no longer have access to the ecosystem that the OHA provides. What Google did was remind Acer that if they released that phone they would be breaking the primary rule of the OHA and it would mean they would have to leave the OHA and lose the benefits of the group. I don't see why people can't understand this. It would be the same if Amazon decided to start an identical coalition based on their Fire OS I am almost sure they would put a rule that says the same thing as the OHA rule does. In that case Amazon would back, support and give access to their services as long as the company did not take their OS and fork it creating a competing OS and releasing a phone based on it (what Acer was about to do).
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All big company are just the same evil.. they do not want share another bite to the new competitor, not even any chance
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