John Gruber on Daring Fireball, commenting on an article about features in iOS 14 that Android had first:

Do you get the sense that Google, company-wide, is all that interested in Android? I don’t. Both as the steward of the software platform and as the maker of Pixel hardware, it seems like Google is losing interest in Android. Flagship Android hardware makers sure are interested in Android, but they can’t move the Android developer ecosystem — only Google can.

Apple, institutionally, is as attentive to the iPhone and iOS as it has ever been. I think Google, institutionally, is bored with Android.

As an Android user, and occasional dabbler in Android app development, this concerns me if it is true. I doubt Google will completely give up on Android, but given the recent shutdowns of Googles services over the years, it’s clear that there are very few things Google is “married” to in the long term.

With Android’s success and it’s raison d’être, one could argue that Google has room to take a more relaxed attitude towards advancing Android as a platform, so long as cheap phones are still being bought and people are still using them. But I certantly hope that they do not completely abandon it.