yeah because you lose Google Maps, Gmail etc etc....all the other services that make Android. Without that all those other manufacturers are making bricks.
Google is facing anti-trust with the DOJ looking to split them up, so its a very certain future.
That future is already there with tablets and smartwatches
Ok, so in your scenario it’s not a break up. But a nuclear strike. Everything Google has ceases to exist if this happens and no one else steps up to take over or fill the gaps?
There are no other email providers? There are no other map providers?
Maybe Open Street Map? But if your fear is that Android would die without Google Maps I’m reasonably confident a replacement could be found that isn’t an Apple hardware device.
The same is true for the other services that Google provides.
There's openstreetmap and Here maps (used to be Navteq).
Push messaging would be the trickiest thing to replace, because every app backend that pushes needs to be able to push to all the push services (or do their own long connect/periodic polling), which could be a lot of services to integrate if there's not a manufacturer consensus.
If the SDK forks, that's even more diversity in the system, but Android is already super diverse so...
Google is facing anti-trust with the DOJ looking to split them up, so its a very certain future.
That future is already there with tablets and smartwatches