Move Over, Apple and Google: Apperating Systems Are Taking Over Your Phones

More so than Facebook Home, the Kindle Fire already seems to be pushing the limits of the operating system/apperating system relationship. Unlike with Facebook Home, installing core Google services like the Google Play app store and basic Android apps involves hacking the device and voiding your warranty. The company spends heavily to develop Android but freely shares the source code, betting that the operating system will usually be distributed in the default, Google-approved configuration, in which it is bundled with Google’s suite of proprietary apps like Gmail, Chrome, and Google Maps. These apps, rather than Android per se, are where the money comes from; once in use, they begin displaying Undermining the link between Android and Google's proprietary apps, as Facebook Home and Kindle Fire do, upsets the Android business model. But Apple's restrictions have only fueled the rise of Dropbox, a third-party system that allows data to be more easily shared between apps, silo-ed off from one another within iOS, via Dropbox servers.