Windows Phone was in a way worse situation. They had to solve an M to N problem, getting apps to attract users while also getting users to attract developers. They tried to leverage their PC install base, but that apparently failed.
The Chinese market on the other hand will always have users, is huge and I presume most developers won't be willing to give up on it. If they do, someone else will serve their customers and might become a future competitor globally.
China-focused apps will only have to re-implement google services. That sound a lot easier to me than supporting an entirely different OS. If those versions can run on google phones as well, devs have the option to drop the play store version down the line to save cost.
I wouldn't bet a lot on it, but this might be the best chance we ever had to get a real play store competitor.
For each example, weren't there viable alternatives lurking around to take advantage of the situation?
I'm not familiar with Palm OS, but Symbian and JM2E both has the iPhone and Android OSs as growing threats. Google hasn't officially stated that it is rebooting Android, and even if they did (and did it right), there isn't a major alternative lurking around the corner...
There are a lot of alternative OS and playstore on different part of the world. Huawei has the resources and experience (including other Chinese companies experience since that's how they operate) to offer an alternative to the whole world.
They have experience on chat and payment software and infrastructure system used by millions of people in their country.
The Chinese market on the other hand will always have users, is huge and I presume most developers won't be willing to give up on it. If they do, someone else will serve their customers and might become a future competitor globally.
China-focused apps will only have to re-implement google services. That sound a lot easier to me than supporting an entirely different OS. If those versions can run on google phones as well, devs have the option to drop the play store version down the line to save cost.
I wouldn't bet a lot on it, but this might be the best chance we ever had to get a real play store competitor.