You're forgetting a lesson we learned from Microsoft. When people in developing countries were pirating Microsoft software (Windows, Office, etc), Microsoft released lower-cost versions of their software to save some face, but in reality Microsoft just didn't care. Let developing countries pirate our software, the important thing is they're using our software. Which means they're not using competitors software. Which means Microsoft stays on top, in the mindset of the people, and when those countries become developed the people will buy legitimate copies of Windows/Office.
Google has this even better on Android. People aren't pirating Android, they're using open source software. And even if that software runs Bing or Yahoo search and the users like Word to Go rather than Google Docs and Outlook.com rather than Gmail, they're still using Android. Which means they're not using iOS. And chances are, they'll want to stick with the OS they know, so in the future they might end up with a more Google-ified device. Keeping them off iOS is the first step to having them as lifelong customers. Microsoft knew this, and Google knows this.
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You're forgetting a lesson we learned from Microsoft. When people in developing countries were pirating Microsoft software (Windows, Office, etc), Microsoft released lower-cost versions of their software to save some face, but in reality Microsoft just didn't care. Let developing countries pirate our software, the important thing is they're using our software. Which means they're not using competitors software. Which means Microsoft stays on top, in the mindset of the people, and when those countries become developed the people will buy legitimate copies of Windows/Office.
Google has this even better on Android. People aren't pirating Android, they're using open source software. And even if that software runs Bing or Yahoo search and the users like Word to Go rather than Google Docs and Outlook.com rather than Gmail, they're still using Android. Which means they're not using iOS. And chances are, they'll want to stick with the OS they know, so in the future they might end up with a more Google-ified device. Keeping them off iOS is the first step to having them as lifelong customers. Microsoft knew this, and Google knows this.
You missed the other critical example: Adobe.
Actually, Adobe might be a better example than Microsoft. I picked Microsoft because it's the OS space similar to Android. Adobe is a great example.