Despite a dispute with Google over its Aliyun OS, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group said it had no plans to make the mobile operating system compatible with the Android ecosystem.
"Aliyun will continue to evolve to meet customer wants and needs. (But) No plans to change as a result of this last week’s events," said Alibaba spokesman John Spelich in an e-mail.
Both Google and Alibaba have been locked in a tug-of-war over whether the Aliyun OS is an Android variant or not, with the dispute threatening to set back Alibaba’s effort to broaden its smartphone services in China, according to analysts.
Initially sparking the controversy was a new Acer smartphone meant for China that would use the Aliyun OS. Acer abruptly cancelled the launch, with Alibaba blaming it on Google, stating that the search giant had threatened to revoke Acer’s Android license if it went ahead and released the handset.
Google later said the Aliyun OS was allegedly derived from Android, but still incompatible with the overall Android ecosystem, including apps. Acer, being a member of the Android promoting Open Handset Alliance, was thus restricted from releasing its new smartphone because members of the group are prohibited from supporting incompatible versions of Android. To resolve the dispute, Google has suggested that Alibaba make its OS compatible with Android.
Acer’s cancellation is probably the first time Google has blocked the release of a mobile phone using another OS, said Teck Zhung Wong, an analyst with research firm IDC.
"It’s a blow to Alibaba in their effort to widen their OS," he said. The Aliyun OS, which launched last year, has only two handset backers, both of whom are local Chinese vendors, Haier and Tianyu. "This controversy aside, the Aliyun OS is really a niche ecosystem," he said. "By itself, it was already having difficulty getting handset vendors."
On Monday, Alibaba tried again to distance Aliyun from Android, which the company contends is its own Linux-based mobile operating system, and should not be dubbed as a variant of Android.
While the Aliyun OS uses some Android application framework in its coding, this is merely done to allow the operating system to run third party Android apps, Alibaba’s Spelich said.
Furthermore, the Aliyun OS uses virtual machine and runtime environment software different from Android, and was also designed to run Aliyun’s own Web-based apps, he added.
Andy Rubin, head of Google’s Android development team, however, rebutted claims of the operating system’s independence from Android. In a Google+ post on Sunday, Rubin wrote that the Aliyun OS uses the Android runtime environment, framework and tools in its coding.
"So if you want to benefit from the Android ecosystem, then make the choice to be compatible," Rubin wrote in his posting, which was addressed to Alibaba’s Spelich. "Its easy, free, and we’ll even help you out. But if you don’t want to be compatible, then don’t expect help from OHA members that are all working to support and build a unified Android ecosystem."
IDG News Service
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers