I have been steady researching this and I have stumbbled upon what lloks like an unfinshed doc for the Developer Verification Program
Key notes
- still no rollout schedule
- Fee can be found in FAQ. Says it will be $25
- That you will have to provide a state-issued ID even for the now free “Limited Distribution” that has a 20 device maximum
- In the FAQ it shows that this is covering all devices Android 7.0 and up and admits that the Advanced Flow in Google Play Services.
- still does not address how they are justifying this at all
They have stolen a free product and are now activity locking out the people who built it.
ASOP does not belong to them it belongs to us. Time to get it back I think.
In this current timeline here in the states, I can’t see any company willing to open lines of credit for mass production due to the economy and all the other shit going on. I could see a small company bootstrapped by FOSS enthusiasts/advocates trying to answer the call though.
Tech wise, if they follow in Graphene’s footsteps and figure out a particular phone brand to successfully install whatever Linux they provide (ie - Mobian). Be kinda cool to mail them an older phone that’s on their compatibility list and they charge for the install.
A smart marketing campaign to get people to switch to a new OS for that phone in the drawer might be compelling to the nontechie crowd.