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Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

(www.makeuseof.com)
589 points josephcsible | 2 comments | 13 Oct 25 15:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.529s | source
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casenmgreen ◴[13 Oct 25 17:18 UTC] No.45570895[source]▶
This is the beginning of the end of Android.

Google have over-reached.

It is unacceptable to software developers to be unable to install software on their own phones, and this will lead to a successor to Android.

It will take time, but it will now happen.

replies(2): >>45571294 #>>45573170 #
kube-system ◴[13 Oct 25 20:46 UTC] No.45573170[source]▶
If that actually were the case, the iPhone would've died in 2007.

In reality, most people don't even know what sideloading is. Those are the people who are buying phones and supporting the market for their existence.

The 0.001% of people who want to side load applications onto their phone, can clamor for a new OS all they want, but unless they put the resources in place to make that happen, it won't.

replies(1): >>45574097 #
1. casenmgreen ◴[13 Oct 25 22:40 UTC] No.45574097[source]▶
> If that actually were the case, the iPhone would've died in 2007.

But there was Android. If you cared about loading, you could ditch Apple. You had something else to go to.

Now there's nothing.

replies(1): >>45574752 #
2. kube-system ◴[14 Oct 25 00:08 UTC] No.45574752[source]▶
There were zero Android phones in 2007. The G1 launched in 2008 as a brand new platform with no third party apps. In 2007, Windows Mobile was the popular platform for people who liked loading their own software on their phone.

If you were around for the early Android scene you might have heard of XDA Developers -- which was named for the O2 XDA Windows Mobile phone.