[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
The other person asking about the recent MSM8960 Motorola phones (xmguy) is also a fan of Motorola/Verizon. Motorola makes some nice hardware and I still have hope they will come around to better serving the pure Google/Nexus experience, with un-locked bootloaders, etc.

The spectrum/technology differences between US carriers seems like the worst in the world. We here in Canada are at least somewhat better off, often able to use a single phone on the different large carriers, though we still tend to pay $50-$100 a month or more for phone+contract.

AFAIK, Google is not actively sabotaging FM; at worst it's intentional neglect. They provide some important apps that work more or less directly with hardware, such as a camera app, but have "washed their hands" of apps that work with radio or TV tuners. AFAIR, even Google TV and similar devices do not support radio/TV tuners, at least not with Google code.

There WAS an effort to create a standard Android FM radio API. It was proposed by ST-Ericsson, a chip OEM only indirectly related to Sony-Ericcsson, but no longer to Sony. This started at least 2 years ago, and there is no news and no progress. The design group for this was "moved to India" last I heard. IMO, Broadcom, TI and Qualcomm would not support this because smaller competitors would use this and hurt their sales dominance.

The OEMs/manufacturers of chips and phones are happy to support FM if it means more revenue/profit.

IMO, the guiltiest parties are the carriers, who, in the US at least are the real customers of OEMs. The guy buying or "renting" a phone from Verizon is a Verizon customer, not a Motorola/HTC/Samsung customer.

I suspect the only way to fix the carrier issues is if the US moved to a more European type cell business. But I won't hold my breath for that to happen.

Keep in mind that media/entertainment is BIG, BIG business. The average person spends hours a day listening to music/radio and hours each evening watching TV or some form of video. Big audiences = big advertising = big money. (But yes, radio business profits aren't too good I think, but are dominated by some big players.)

Google is an advertising company. That's why they are one of the biggest corps on the planet. And they are becoming more of a media company too, with books, music, videos on Play. And consider Apple TV and Google TV. And Google dabbling in cable TV/Internet. Who knows what's coming ?

Anyway I think there is a big media battle being waged right now for the future of media, and who profits from it. I don't claim to understand too much of what is "really going on", but each decision each company makes is part of this ongoing fight.

Most cell phone users are not technical. They won't root or run custom ROMs. Even if ICS/JB/whatever allows them to hide or remove apps, many are likely to never do so.

For the most part, the large companies don't really care much about the "technical enthusiasts". I view it similar to the auto industry. Most people just drive. Some love to modify their engines, audio/entertainment systems (with Android now too :) ), interiors, exteriors etc.

I see myself as somewhat analogous to an automotive custom sound system manufacturer, specializing in the radio portion. Most people use the radio the car manufacturer installed. Others want something different or better. The analogy breaks down though in that many custom ROMs can't use the original FM app.