I think Steve's underestimating the power of Google's control over OEMs here. Every OEM wants to get rid of Google's hold over them, but how do they do it without putting their entire corporation at risk? Google has already shown they'll ban your entire company from Google Apps access if you try to produce a single Android device without Google Apps.

So any company who wants to exclude Google puts their entire mobile product line at risk on this play. It'd be hard to see anything coming of this unless multiple manufacturers can agree to make the jump together, creating a platform large enough that even Google has to support it for their own market share needs (which means, this group must include Samsung, who's hedged their bets on this sort of thing but seems too scared to make the jump). And even then, this only remains an option as long as the Pixel remains niche. If the Pixel gains an iPhone-like market share amongst the broader range of Android devices, Google can mostly tell other manufacturers to screw off.

His notions on cross-platform frameworks making a non-Android platform viable are spot on though. Not only through things like React Native, but PWAs, which Google is pretty bullish on itself, despite the fact that it may make Windows Mobile a viable idea again.