Microsoft reportedly demanding $15 per Android phone from Samsung

[Pliablemoose]

When you look at the entire smartphone market then more than 99% of the people don't want to root

You mean ALL smartphones? iPhones, BB's, Nokia's, WP7?

 

[theeedude]

It's interesting that they want $15 from Samsung, and only $5 from HTC. I think it has to do with MS having a lot of leverage over Samsung, since Samsung also makes PCs and needs to be in Microsoft's good graces.

 

[Doboji]

I think they want to incentivize Samsung to make lots of WP7 handsets, in the end there will be some agreement where Samsung agrees to make x WP7 handsets, or x percent or something like that.

 

[Pliablemoose]

It's interesting that they want $15 from Samsung, and only $5 from HTC. I think it has to do with MS having a lot of leverage over Samsung, since Samsung also makes PCs and needs to be in Microsoft's good graces.

I think MS and Apple are purposely going after Sammy at the same time right now, suddenly Samsung needs nearly 2X as many lawyers, and they need to fight multiple cases...

 

[Mopetar]

Reality doesn't support your statement. Little more credibility with rooting, but more people root than .01%, which is why Rom Manager is #4 on the Top 5 Paid Apps list on the Market.

Also, I'd wager a very large percent of people do get other launchers.

Numbers from market.android.com

Launcher Pro - 199,306 downloads
ADW.Ex(Paid) - 12,656 downloads
ADW.Lancher(free) - 58,386 downloads
Go Launcher - 91,350 downloads

And thats just the launchers I can think of off the top of my head. Fact of the matter is, people do actually like to customize their phones.

CM7 alone has 462,456 unique installs, as of 5 secs ago.

http://stats.cyanogenmod.com/

Considering that there are now 500,000 Android activations every day, and that previously the reported number was well above 300,000. It might be more than .01%, but it's safe to say that 99% of the market doesn't root their devices.

 

[Mopetar]

I think MS and Apple are purposely going after Sammy at the same time right now, suddenly Samsung needs nearly 2X as many lawyers, and they need to fight multiple cases...

That's probably why Microsoft decided to strike. Curiously, Apple only sued over design patents so they're not really complaining about Android so much as how Samsung skinned their phones. As far as I know, the Apple suit against HTC is still ongoing, so they may be avoiding other lawsuits targeted at Android until they get some results from that initial suit.

Microsoft probably realized that since Samsung has already put a lot of legal effort into fighting with Apple, that the time is ripe for them to muscle in and be met with minimal resistance. It may also be why HTC decided to settle with Microsoft rather than attempting to fight two legal battles.

 

[Bateluer]

When you look at the entire smartphone market then more than 99% of the people don't want to root

Its more likely that most people just don't know what rooting is or what benefits its bring them. Its not that they don't want to, its that they don't know they can.

Regardless, you don't need to root your phone to install a good launcher. Android's major strength is its customization, launchers, themes, etc, you aren't limited to what the carrier/manufacturer installs for you.

 

[badb0y]

No, it does not. Android gets more of a benefit from having additional RAM than it does CPU/GPU power. And greater 'smoothness', which is highly subjective, is achieved through using efficient launchers. The launchers and UIs that come with TouchWiz, Blur, and Sense are horribly bloated, poorly coded, buggy, and generally a steaming pile of crap. Install Launcher Pro or ADW, and the phone instantly because much more snappy.

2 things:

I meant to say the bloated version of Android that handset manufacturers ship with, I didn't mean to say Android as an OS.

Second, When I switched the launchers on the Atrix, there was still lag in the UI. It wasn't until I flashed a different ROM did the UI become fluid and smooth so I am not sure if changing launchers gets the job done.

 

[Bateluer]

2 things:

I meant to say the bloated version of Android that handset manufacturers ship with, I didn't mean to say Android as an OS.

Second, When I switched the launchers on the Atrix, there was still lag in the UI. It wasn't until I flashed a different ROM did the UI become fluid and smooth so I am not sure if changing launchers gets the job done.

With the Atrix, Blur is more than just a launcher. It has notoriously poor memory management, and continues running in the background taking resources even if you install your own launcher. Its one of the reasons why people loathe Blur so much. I'm a little excited to see what development happens with the Atrix now that its been fully opened. That phone can be had for ultra cheap now.

With Sense on my TB, installing ADW.Ex solved the bulk of the UI lag, but I was still stuck with HTC's crappy dialer, contacts, email, peep, friendstream, etc. They'd pop up in background services, then be put to sleep and closed by the OS. It took the full AOSP builds to completely remove those so they weren't taking any resources at all. Sammy's TouchWiz is the same way.

 

[TheInternet1980]

The launchers and UIs that come with TouchWiz, Blur, and Sense are horribly bloated, poorly coded, buggy, and generally a steaming pile of crap

You know I'm generally in the vanilla Android/Launcher Pro camp...but I just tried a Sense 3.0 port on the G2, and it's honestly really nice. I find this relatively shocking because I've pretty much hated every ROM with a UI overlay I've tried.