Google has made a change for the best as pre-installed apps are now being optional since the pre-installed Android apps take up considerable space making it look messy. The android system is by far the most used operation in the world.
However, Google had made strict rules that if they wanted to include a pre-installed app then they also needed to install other apps related to it, which in some cases may not be useful .For e.g if the phone maker wanted to put Google + for instance then other apps such as G mail, Google Earth, etc was also needed to be installed.
If they didn’t want to include this app. then tough luck for them because they wouldn’t be allowed to install any Google applications and the version would not be approved as legit android.
Good news: Now that Google has eliminated those rules phone makers can now decrease the number of pre-installed apps. As to their choice.