Forks, Fragmentation, and the Future of Android

Droidcon SF 2016
Organized by: Apps4All (http://apps4all.io)
Content Curated By: touchlab (http://www.touchlab.co)

Android powers more than 80% of smartphones worldwide and shipped on over 1 billion devices in 2014. However the hidden story in these numbers is that Android forks now account for over 20% of the global Android ecosystem and 41% of new devices. Early on “fragmentation» was an issue of screen size, display density, and platform version. The new “fragmentation” is forked versions of the OS and alternate app stores.

This talk explores the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and popular forks like Cyanogen, FireOS, and MIUI, as well as Google Play Services (Google’s fork of Android). We will introduce specific strategies to help developers reach a wider audience with their applications.

This talk will address the following questions:

1. How does the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), Compatibility Test Suite (CTS), and Google Play Services help shape the global Android ecosystem?

2. Which forks of Android and which alternate app stores present the greatest opportunities for developers to reach a wider audience with their apps?

3. What are some strategies developers can use for building applications that are compatible with both Google and non-Google versions of Android?

Speaker:
Chuck Greb is the mobile lead at Mapzen. Building open source tools for location-based apps. Practicing clean architecture and unit testing. Also Kotlin.

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