Updated Gmail app in Android Market
We just released a new version of the Gmail app in Android Market, so Gmail updates aren't tied to Android version releases anymore. Now you can get new Gmail stuff faster without having to wait for system updates. To start you off …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google has been building out mobile Gmail since the Gmail Mobile 1.5 release in October 2007 and a dedicated iPhone version in January 2008, always shipping it as part of the phone's software stack. Today's move changes the delivery mechanism: the updated Gmail app now lives in Android Market, so feature releases no longer wait on Android version updates.
The timing matters against the backdrop of Android's surge — Gartner had already put it at the top of the U.S. smartphone OS market by August 2010, with Quantcast counting it at 25% of U.S. mobile web browsing. Neowin's pickup framed the change bluntly as a step toward ending Android fragmentation, since carrier-gated system updates have been the platform's known weak point.
First-order effects
- Android users get new Gmail features at Google's release cadence rather than waiting for handset makers and carriers to push system updates — the update bottleneck for Google's own flagship mobile app disappears.
- Handset manufacturers and carriers lose one point of leverage in the Android software pipeline: they no longer sit between users and the freshest version of Google's most-used app.
Second-order effects
- The Market-distribution template is now proven for a core Google service, putting pressure on Google to route more of its Android app suite through the same channel and on rivals like Apple, whose bundled-app updates remain tied to OS releases.
- As Android's share grows — third worldwide and first in the U.S. per Gartner's August 2010 numbers — carrier-controlled OS update cycles become a smaller differentiator between devices, shifting competition toward hardware and services.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the app marketplace rather than the OS release train becomes the primary software delivery mechanism on smartphones, structurally defusing the fragmentation criticism Neowin attached to this story and weakening the carrier gatekeeping role across mobile platforms.
The trend: Smartphone platforms are decoupling application updates from OS version releases, moving software freshness control from carriers and handset makers to the platform owner and its marketplace.