Google Encouraging Samsung To Kill Bixby and Galaxy App Store: Reports

[ThePointblank]

Google is apparently in negotiations with Samsung to have Samsung discontinue Bixby and the Galaxy App Store and promote Google apps instead, with financial incentives from Google to sweeten the offer:

 

From Ars Technica:

 

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/07/google-wants-samsung-to-kill-bixby-galaxy-app-store/

 

Quotes

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Reuters and Bloomberg are both independently reporting that Google is pushing Samsung to back away from its duplicate Android ecosystem and promote Google apps instead. A "correspondence" between the two companies was seen by both sites, which saw Google push Samsung to promote the Play Store and Google Assistant over the Galaxy App Store and Samsung's Bixby assistant. Google was apparently willing to open its wallet and pay Samsung to make it happen.

 

Bloomberg's interpretation of the negotiations is pretty vague, saying the deal "would promote Google's digital assistant and Play Store for apps on [Samsung] devices." The later Reuters report is a lot more specific, saying Samsung is "considering dropping its Bixby virtual assistant and Galaxy Apps Store from its mobile devices." Reuters goes on to say that "Google is dangling more lucrative terms for Samsung than in previous deals if it retreats from its app strategy." Part of Google's immense web of Android protection is sharing ad revenue and Play Store app revenue with phone manufacturers, and offering Samsung a higher share is an easy way to bribe the South Korean company into submission.

 

The sources are saying that they intend on finalizing some sort of agreement this Friday, so we'll see what happens.

 

From what I've seen of Bixby and the Galaxy App Store on my Samsung phone, both aren't much to write home about. Bixby is barely useful, and I prefer to use the Google Assistant, or Alexa for stuff. Also, the Galaxy App Store is pretty thin on good apps, and doesn't have the market share the Google App Store has. I suspect that if Samsung does kill Bixby and the Galaxy App Store, there's no real loss for most end users.

[zeusthemoose]

I find it very ironic that this comes out the same day that tech ceos have a Congressional hearing about anti-competition

[Worstcaster]

19 minutes ago, zeusthemoose said:

I find it very ironic that this comes out the same day that tech ceos have a thing with Congress about anti-competition

If it sucks, is it still competition?  ie. Bixby vs Google, Chrome vs Internet Explorer, Google vs Bing.....Wait those examples all use Google....Ok you win.

[Vishera]

37 minutes ago, zeusthemoose said:

I find it very ironic that this comes out the same day that tech ceos have a thing with Congress about anti-competition

From past court cases free services have no antitrust liabilities,so it's completely legal.

KINDERSTART.COM, LLC v. GOOGLE, INC. No. C 06-2057 JF (RS):

Quote

KinderStart cites no authority indicating that antitrust law concerns itself with competition in the provision of free services. Providing search functionality may lead to revenue from other sources, but KinderStart has not alleged that anyone pays Google to search. Thus, the Search Market is not a “market” for purposes of antitrust law.

Since no one pays Google for the service,it's not a “market” for purposes of antitrust law.

The case was dismissed.

[.Apex.]

I kinda hope Samsung doesn't kill Bixby even if it's terrible, I haven't used it but that seems to be the general sentiment towards it, but only because there has to be some level of competition or choice, as otherwise we'd so heavily rely on Google that there would be no way out of their ecosystem and they already control a huge chunk of it, I've personally moved slightly away from it by changing to Firefox but I admit I can't escape their other services like YouTube/Google Drive/Google Search/Gmail because they're the most convenient options for now.

[poochyena]

9 minutes ago, Syn. said:

but only because there has to be some level of competition or choice

there already is. google play store isn't the only place you can download apps to your phone.

[.Apex.]

3 minutes ago, poochyena said:

there already is. google play store isn't the only place you can download apps to your phone.

I never mentioned the Play Store

[RejZoR]

See, this is why I don't like Android phones. It's Google cancer. Google cancer EVERYWHERE. If I picked Samsung phone, I'd probably do it exactly because of Bixby. It's not cancer Google yet does most basic assistant things I request from Siri now. Like what's the battery level, what time are my alarms set to, set timer to X minutes/seconds, what's the time etc. I'm sure Bixby does that just fine. The more Googled Android phones become, the less likely is I'll ever return to Android from an iPhone... And this is my first iPhone after countless Androids...

 

And no, usage of alternate ROM's is not an option because none of banking apps work then and I can't be bothered to deal with that fuckery again.

[mr moose]

Great, even less options and shrinking.  I already only have two choices of phone one with overpriced shit hardware and repair fuckery and one with google spying and data theft.  If google keep going this way I might even just go back to a dumb phone and make people call me instead of txt'ing etc.

[Master Disaster]

My Mum has a Galaxy S8 and its freaking ridiculous how much bloatware, crapware and straight up redundant garbage it forces onto the user.

 

Chrome? Nah, Samsung Internet,

Play Store? Nah, Samsung Store.

Google Pay? Nah, Samsung Wallet.

Messages? Nah, Samsung Messenger.

GMail? Nah, Samsung Emails.

Google Assistant? Nah, Bixby.

Wanna change your wallpaper? Screw Android Settings, we got Samsung Themes.

Wanna open a PDF? Yep, we got Samsung Viewer.

 

Almost every single function of the phone has some Samsung nonsense taking control and to make things worse, all the Android stuff is still there so there's times the phone gets confused about what it should be using, not to mention all the space it eats up.

 

The thing that irks me the most though, even if you remove as much as you can and disable the Samsung Store entirely it resets back to normal on its own. I literally had an argument with my mum because I removed/disabled everything for her and a week later she rang me up to say it was all back. I blamed her for doing something since I didn't believe the phone would reenable things on its own but nope, I was wrong.

 

She's basically had to learn how to live with all the Samsung crap because it cannot be removed. Oh and before anyone says "just root it", no. She's 66 years old and needs her phone to work.

[Trik'Stari]

I just want to be able to turn bixby off. I want the ability to have the button that activates it JUST DO NOTHING INSTEAD.

 

Why? Because it's directly across from my lock button and accidental bixby presses are a constant problem.

[RejZoR]

I'd much prefer if EVERY Android phone could be de-googled. Like, entirely with a press of one button with confirmation and with option to bring it back when resetting the phone. Just sack that Google shit from it entirely and let me do my thing. Instead you need to root them, cut them apart and use some garage cooked ROM's that don't allow anything "secure" to run because they are unlocked (unlocked, not even rooted!). Or live with Google privacy cancer.

 

Google just wants to be Apple of Androids, controlling everything, yet not offer a single damn thing to convince anyone.5 years software support? Instant major OS upgrades? Actual privacy controls not their BS smokescreen toggles that do nothing and they still monetize all our data anyways.

[porina]

As a reminder there's two tiers of Android, the full fat Google version, and the open source AOSP I think it was called. If you want access to Google services, you have to go the full fat route, but you still have the option of doing what you like with AOSP. A kinda problem is there's no middle ground. If you go full version, you have to have ALL the Google stuff. If you go AOSP, you can't have any. Except indirectly perhaps, via browser.

 

Samsung ends up having all the Google stuff, as well as their own stuff. It's a mess. I still have a S6 which I hated using so much, when work offered to replace it I got an iPhone (they only offer Samsung and Apple devices). This is quite annoying, as Samsung hardware isn't bad, but I just can't stand their interpretation of UI. I would actually consider one of their tablets if they ditched their OS crap. Just give me stock Android as a baseline offering. Don't mind if there's more than that as long as it is strictly optional and preferably removable, not just disabled.

 

I think about the only big company that has managed to make AOSP work to any degree is Amazon, but they kinda do their own thing anyway.

[Master Disaster]

16 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

I'd much prefer if EVERY Android phone could be de-googled. Like, entirely with a press of one button with confirmation and with option to bring it back when resetting the phone. Just sack that Google shit from it entirely and let me do my thing. Instead you need to root them, cut them apart and use some garage cooked ROM's that don't allow anything "secure" to run because they are unlocked (unlocked, not even rooted!). Or live with Google privacy cancer.

 

Google just wants to be Apple of Androids, controlling everything, yet not offer a single damn thing to convince anyone.5 years software support? Instant major OS upgrades? Actual privacy controls not their BS smokescreen toggles that do nothing and they still monetize all our data anyways.

Lineage OS with no GAPPS is by far the best option for this. If the device is supported Lineage works just like regular Android but has literally NOTHING except basic functionality bundled (Phone, Messages, Camera, a Music Player and a Web Browser). The problem with doing this however is no GAPPS means no play store which means Side Load or nothing.

 

Also I might be misremembering but I swear last time I used Lineage OS it worked with apps that checked if the device is secure or not. IIRC when you install there's a second package you can include to root the device and have full control but if you don't include the root package things like Netflix & Mobile Banking work. Like I said, its possible I'm misremembering that though.

[RejZoR]

@Master Disaster

I've had LineageOS without any Gapps on my Xioami Mi5, decided not to root it because I don't really need full access and my banking app refused to start.

[Tech_Dreamer]

why? did it start to become a competition?

[Master Disaster]

7 minutes ago, Tech_Dreamer said:

why? did it start to become a competition?

No, its garbage that only serves to annoy the users, take up space on the phone and make the entire phone feel sluggish all the time.

 

If I had to guess I'd say its probably because Google are annoyed by users who experience just how bad Samsungs bloatware makes an Android phone and then run to tell all their friends & family that Android is terrible because they don't know the difference between stock & third party and think all Androids are that bad.

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

No, its garbage that only serves to annoy the users, take up space on the phone and make the entire phone feel sluggish all the time.

 

If I had to guess I'd say its probably because Google are annoyed by users who experience just how bad Samsungs bloatware makes an Android phone and then run to tell all their friends & family that Android is terrible because they don't know the difference between stock & third party and think all Androids are that bad.

It might also be that with Samsung having so much market share,  a decent portion of them using the default Samsung browser and sms app could equal google missing too much data.    I know lots of average people that just use whatever browser comes with the device.   It's why ie was so popular for so long (assuming it isn't any more). 

[Agatong]

58 minutes ago, mr moose said:

It might also be that with Samsung having so much market share,  a decent portion of them using the default Samsung browser and sms app could equal google missing too much data.    I know lots of average people that just use whatever browser comes with the device.   It's why ie was so popular for so long (assuming it isn't any more). 

But how many people who use Samsung phones just attach it to their Gmail account anyways and you still have to accept to Google's TOS when setting up a Samsung phone, so I really do not see it being Google isn't getting enough people's data from Samsung, I believe that Google just wants Samsung to stop using there so so software and just start using Google software like Android was made for, The last Samsung phone I bought was full of unnecessary crap pre installed and took me a few days to get it all setup properly, but it has also been about 6 years since I have owned a Samsung phone.

[Master Delta Chief]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

No, its garbage that only serves to annoy the users, take up space on the phone and make the entire phone feel sluggish all the time.

 

If I had to guess I'd say its probably because Google are annoyed by users who experience just how bad Samsungs bloatware makes an Android phone and then run to tell all their friends & family that Android is terrible because they don't know the difference between stock & third party and think all Androids are that bad.

There's another way you could go about this: Give users the choice of which kind of software they want to use. If they don't want the app anymore, they can just simply remove it on their own accord instead of a megacorp like Google giving them the option instead. That said, apps that are from the manufacture should be easy to uninstall in order to make this happen. 

[spartaman64]

6 hours ago, RejZoR said:

See, this is why I don't like Android phones. It's Google cancer. Google cancer EVERYWHERE. If I picked Samsung phone, I'd probably do it exactly because of Bixby. It's not cancer Google yet does most basic assistant things I request from Siri now. Like what's the battery level, what time are my alarms set to, set timer to X minutes/seconds, what's the time etc. I'm sure Bixby does that just fine. The more Googled Android phones become, the less likely is I'll ever return to Android from an iPhone... And this is my first iPhone after countless Androids...

 

And no, usage of alternate ROM's is not an option because none of banking apps work then and I can't be bothered to deal with that fuckery again.

why? google assistant is 100x better than bixby and i think its slightly better than siri at most things also. i dont care which company something is from i want it to just work

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, Master Delta Chief said:

There's another way you could go about this: Give users the choice of which kind of software they want to use. If they don't want the app anymore, they can just simply remove it on their own accord instead of a megacorp like Google giving them the option instead. That said, apps that are from the manufacture should be easy to uninstall in order to make this happen. 

At the expense of usability. A phone is not a PC and having 2 versions of almost every single app installed and running does not make for a good experience.

[Doobeedoo]

Yeah great timing and funny too. Can they do something useful for their platform, like at least extend Android ver. upgeades foe their phones. 

[LAwLz]

I wonder if Samsung will take the money. They have already ramped down their push of Bixby by doing things like no longer having a dedicated button for it. At this point I can't imagine that Samsung is making money or even breaking even on all the resources they have poured into Bixby. Getting paid by Google to get rid of a part of your company that is losing money sounds like a massive win. But on the other hand, Samsung must have some sort of plan for Bixby, so they probably won't scrap it just like that.

 

I wonder if this deal also includes more than just the Galaxy store and Bixby. I think Samsung has lots of apps that compete with Google, where the Samsung version is far superior and I would hate to see them go. Samsung's browser, phone app, text message app, and a few other are all better than the Google alternatives IMO. So I really don't want them to be discontinued.

 

 

 

8 hours ago, mr moose said:

Great, even less options and shrinking.  I already only have two choices of phone one with overpriced shit hardware and repair fuckery and one with google spying and data theft.  If google keep going this way I might even just go back to a dumb phone and make people call me instead of txt'ing etc.

And this is why "vote with your wallet" or "don't use it if you don't like it" doesn't work.

[Touch My Hamm]

galaxy app store is only useful for finding color themes for the Samsung launcher. Since I run with a watch 2 it also allows me to find watch faces in the app that work with it. Other then that I cannot remember the last time I opened the Galaxy store LOL.

 

Also I would like to note that the Game Launcher from Samsung is handy to keep all the games plus some non useful stats on each game lol.