Re: Can Google do something...think of the users!
"Seriously, could Google mandate updates be sent out by handset manufacturers (maybe refuse them access to newer versions if they don't)...how many Android's will go unpatched because hardware manufacturers can't...be bothered."
Not 100% sure of this, but Play Services is probably technically capable of arbitrarily modifying what's on the phone - the questions are whether Google wants to annoy the manufacturers and carriers that much, and whether they would be able to do it without falling over some weirdness the manufacturer left in the hardware (resulting in a brick, of whatever hardness).
