> the way they actually differentiate phones is on real hardware differences that show up in the specs
You forgot about one thing they care about above all others — cost.
And the easiest way to keep costs down is through "alternative revenue streams", which involve your own tracking, your own app bundling deals and your own App Store, which you're pushing on users constantly. And if you do that, you may as well get the branding win from doing the custom skin too.
That's the middle manager's rationalization again, but meanwhile nobody actually uses their OEM-specific app store and the two dollars they made from the two percent of customers who accidentally bought an app using their store is less than the amount of money and goodwill they lose to pissing people off.
You forgot about one thing they care about above all others — cost.
And the easiest way to keep costs down is through "alternative revenue streams", which involve your own tracking, your own app bundling deals and your own App Store, which you're pushing on users constantly. And if you do that, you may as well get the branding win from doing the custom skin too.