The Android operating system seems to be a very successful platform. It feeds 85 percent of the new smartphones that are in circulation and along with iOS has virtually stopped any competition.
But Android is plagued by persistence problems which Google can't seem to resolve. First of all, there is the issue of fragmentation.
What does this mean;
Developers should develop software that works reliably on several hundred different devices from dozens of manufacturers. So developers focus only on devices from the big players.
Then there is the problem of updates. Google has scheduled an annual update for Android (unless there is an 0day that forces the company to release a critical update), but adopting the update within a year may reach 10 per cent. Imagine how much time is needed for a universal implementation of the update.
While Google seems to be fast enough to release its Nexus updates, it may take months for owners of other Android devices (from other manufacturers) to get the update.
In fact, unless you have a Nexus device, the easiest way to get a new version of Android is to buy a new device.
From the above it is clear that Android is facing some extremely serious problems.
Many of the problems faced by the platform are because they are open source. Android is relatively open, meaning that as soon as Google releases a new version, OEMs get to work adding, well, you can imagine. This then results in both partitioning and all the problems with the updates as Google updates cannot be installed on jailbroken Android by OEMs.
Another problem with Android is that it is based on Linux, and Linux is known to be plagued by legal issues.
Legal issues, and intellectual property licensing issues in particular, are a very serious problem for Android manufacturers. Companies like Microsoft earn billions of dollars in patent licensing fees from Android hardware OEMs.
So a completely new functional, developed from scratch could release OEMs from the cost of patents.
Google, as we mentioned in a previous publication, is reportedly experimenting on new platforms. Take, for example, the Project Fuchsia. Sure, it's too early to tell, but it's clear that Google is looking for an era beyond the Linux kernel, and the end of the Linux kernel essentially means the end of Android.
Not only could this operating system be built from scratch to be optimized for today's devices, laptops, smartphones or even small IoT devices - enabling a truly unified platform.
Google could license this platform for hardware developers, as opposed to using the open source model.
And licensing by Google means that the company will have more control over hardware and devices. No one will be allowed to fill garbage applications functional, and the updates will come with the ones released by the company. Yes a platform for the 21 century.
But do not expect to see it soon as all operating systems need time to grow.
Android has some serious shortcomings that Google knows all too well, and the fact that it hasn't made any effort to fix these issues is perhaps the strongest evidence - along with the company's interest in developing new platforms - that something is brewing.
ZDNet
