Google's Android OEM Control

Why couldnt Google argue that manufacturers can fork andoid project and disable Google apps ?

Google is in fact forcing all device manufacturers to use Gapps and do many other things or else lose access to all the features that make Android be Android. Companies like Sony, Samsung, HTC are only allowed to ship official Android devices if they want to continue to be able to do mobile-related business with Google.For instance if Philips wanted to ship an Android TV without spyware, they would have to remove some Google apps => anti-fragmentation clause kicks in => Philips i

Android does. Google can't claim credit for Android when it likes and disown it when there are unpleasant side effects.

Google had absolutely no problem with forcing the hands of device makers when it came to their ability to build devices running a fork of Android.They are not powerless. They simply made the decision to treat carriers and device makers as the customers they cared about and not the people using the devices.

I think one thing to think about is how, unlike Apple, Google does not want to upset the "apple" cart (yes, I am a literary genius). To them, removing friction in carriers and device manufacturers from adopting Android is critical. Given this caused some stir in the ecosystem, it makes sense to remove the offering so they are seen as more conformist, rather than a change agent. While change agents are good for you and me, well entrenched companies do not really like them. Status quo is very much

I'm not following...why would major device manufacturers want to starve Google?

The problem is that Google is preventing vendors/manufacturer from creating a fork of Android: all their Android-based devices have to play by Google rules, and no vendor can afford being banned from providing the Google apps, in particular Google Play (ex: only this store provides the app for my bank or for the real-time trains schedules).

Because when Google made Android it was allowed. Device manufacturers supported Android and PlayStore and gave up some control to Google because of the deal. Now Google is trying to back off from the deal after it has a huge network affect because of the exclusive apps, Play Services and Play Store.Android would not have been so big if it were not an open platform. There were many other closed source OS's available ie. Windows Phone.If Google backs off, it would be a bait and switch,

Google couldn’t do it, not effectively anyway because android vendors and variants are decentralised. They could do it for the pixels but that represents less thats half a percent of the market - not to mention that everyone on a pixel could just move to lineageOS if they didn’t like it.That freedom and decentralisation doesn’t exist on Apple (at least yet, maybe the DOJ or congress will regulate them).

Google isn't forcing anyone to use their services on the Android. Unlike the iPhone, the app API exposes all the device functionality used by the Google-made apps, so any other company could easily build a competing ecosystem for the Android. What's more, Google doesn't even control the Android OS itself; it's completely open source.