Not every vendor has an 18 month refresh cycle -- not everyone is just selling disposable phones and tablets
A lot of people want longer Android support -- especially enterprise installations, which want to pay for software on 4-8 year hardware cycles, but the short length of Android's current support prevents them from doing this.
There are lots of Qualcomm / Freescale chips running Android inside Airplane Seatbacks, and Hotel Kiosks, and Business Wall Signage, and more that simply will not be replaced for many many years. Today, Board OEMs are essentially forbidden from updating these, even if they want to (since Qualcomm / Freescale won't release the tools they need). After Treble, OEM Vendors will at least have the option of updating these devices, even without Qualcomm / Freescale / etc's permission.
Yes, enterprise-size companies want this, especially with regards to security. But companies of that size buy Samsung or/and Apple (in general, I'm sure there are exceptions).
Now, with the prices of these devices they are not exactly what I would call 'disposable', but (for Samsung at least, I can't say for Apple) update availability is highly dependant on the network carrier.
I think Google needs to somehow force the availability of updates, regardless of whether the vendor wants to use updated software as a selling point for their latest phone - maybe Treble is a step towards that.
> But companies of that size buy Samsung or/and Apple (in general, I'm sure there are exceptions).
That's not really what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about corporate issued Samsung Galaxy Tablets. I'm talking about Android embedded into other products. Companies, of any size, don't buy Samsung or Apple for this because neither of those companies really exist in those markets at all.
I'm talking about devices like the Delta Kiosk you use to print your Airline tickets. The self-service checkout machine you use at WalMart. The LCD panel in the wall of an corporate HQ that shows all Outlook meetings scheduled in that room. The newer Smart TVs in Hotel Rooms that let you order pay-per-view and food to your room's bill.
Many of those devices also run Android, and have no upgrade path even though their OEMs desperately want one. Project Treble helps them out, even more so than it might for smaller phone companies (like say HTC).
It's because phones were still in an extremely quick development cycle. Think about normal PCs, 2009 would still give you a reasonable PC with Windows 7.
Phone hardware upgrades will become boring like PCs at some point.
> Phone hardware upgrades will become boring like PCs at some point.
I'm not sure that's true. Portable computing can differentiate in many different ways. Consider how broad wearables could be, and that each of these could replace your phone, in principle.
A lot of people want longer Android support -- especially enterprise installations, which want to pay for software on 4-8 year hardware cycles, but the short length of Android's current support prevents them from doing this.
There are lots of Qualcomm / Freescale chips running Android inside Airplane Seatbacks, and Hotel Kiosks, and Business Wall Signage, and more that simply will not be replaced for many many years. Today, Board OEMs are essentially forbidden from updating these, even if they want to (since Qualcomm / Freescale won't release the tools they need). After Treble, OEM Vendors will at least have the option of updating these devices, even without Qualcomm / Freescale / etc's permission.