Devs to European Commission: “Don’t Encourage Android Fragmentation”
Today’s Harmonised Operating System Superior to Old Broken Android
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Grimm
chris.grimm@appalliance.org
Nearly 140 European app developers from 20 countries across Europe today urged the European Commission to consider whether its investigation of the Android operating system could harm thousands of developers who write on the Android platform. The developers told the Commission that today’s Android is much better for developers than it was in 2008 – 2011; and credited efforts by Google and others – in response to developer complaints – to harmonise the open-source operating system across devices. Prior to 2011 manufacturers were customising Android devices to such an extent that app developers were having trouble keeping pace.
The letter was sent to the Commission’s Directorate General for Competition, which is investigating Android activities as part of a series of investigations of Google. The letter urges DG Competition to avoid imposing remedies on Google that will harm Android and create hardships on developers.
“When Android was first introduced, manufacturers implemented it so differently that developers relied on sites like androidfragmentation.com to make sure their apps would work,” said Friedger Müffke, a professional developer and founder of the DroidCon conference series. “Since 2011, Android is so much better than it was and fragmentation is no longer a worry.”
The letter was organised by the Application Developers Alliance, a global organisation that promotes developers as the next-generation essential workforce.
“When developers learned of the Commission’s Android investigation, their concern was that the Commission would undermine recent advances that have made Android a great success,” said Catriona Meehan, Director of European Policy for the Alliance.
“Android created a huge market for developers because it brought smartphones to millions of new users, but for several years, Android’s fragmentation among devices and carriers cost developers time and money to keep up,” said Müffke. “Android’s Compatibility Test Suite has been a success, and I hope it grows even stronger in the future. I also hope that government investigations of Google will not harm the CTS or any efforts to reduce Android fragmentation.”
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