99
Google and Epic give up fighting — third-party Android app stores are coming next week
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
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They don't care, but also they can point to AOSP being around. So "Android" is still "open", just making it harder and harder for it to be used without the Google Services (in addition to drivers needed for the crucial hardware bits OEMs use which are their own problems).
Conspiracy theory kind of rant/headspace. I am kind of shocked that the Pixel devices still have easy boot loader unlocking and drivers to install AOSP or Linux based ROMs. Guessing they will lock those down like the OEMs at some point, and make "must have" features for the hardware not work if an "unverified" ROM is installed. Could also see them selling "dev unlocked" versions of the devices that are more expensive, and require the people buying them to get verified for apps at time of purchase (even if the person isn't planning on actually making apps).
Samsung just did that with the tablets recently which are now garbage with 0 options for the bootloader.