Your device becomes unsellable without the Google lock in. Lots of companies tried it early on in the Android ecosystem. Even those who hit great price points, provided a vanilla Android experience and provided their own app stores failed miserably.
It's just naiive to think you can be successful without Google.
Supporting Google access and requiring it are two very different things. Of course a phone that wasn't capable of integrating with gmail etc would never sell but that doesn't mean that I can't personally opt out if I buy that phone.
It's just naiive to think you can be successful without Google.