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发帖数: 1034 | 1 Less than three months after Mozilla announced it was dropping Google in
favor of Yahoo as the default search engine on Firefox, Google Play is now
apparently no longer supported on Firefox for Android.
Visitors to Google Play on Mozilla’s mobile browser were greeted with a “
this browser is no longer supported” message today, leading some to
speculate that this is a deliberate action designed to inconvenience Mozilla.
Google Play on Firefox for Android
Above: Google Play on Firefox for Android
If this is a permanent, deliberate move by Google, then the direct
ramifications of this single action might not be huge — after all, it’s
safe to assume that most people will likely access Google’s store via the
native Google Play app on Android. But it will signify something greater,
and would illustrate the sway that Google holds if it can simply block
access to its services on a whim.
Google had been the default search engine on Firefox since a deal was signed
with Mozilla back in 2004. This agreement came up for renewal last year,
but Mozilla took it as “an opportunity to review our competitive strategy
and explore our options,” explained Mozilla CEO Chris Beard. Thus, a five-
year deal was inked with Yahoo.
While Yahoo Search still languishes far behind Google in terms of market
share, it did make some gains on Google in January, with the latter falling
below 75 percent market share in the U.S. for the first time in five years.
How did Google respond? By providing an idiot-proof guide showing Firefox
users how to ditch Yahoo for Google.
It is worth noting here that Google Play still works absolutely fine on the
Firefox desktop app, while all other Google services work fine on Firefox
for Android. We’ve also tested Google Play in multiple other browsers on
Android, each of which worked fine — so this issue is restricted
specifically to Google Play on the Firefox Android app.
We’ve reached out to both Google and Mozilla, and will update here once we
hear back. |
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