With 4.1 the Android OS became established. Google shifted gears with 4.2 to refinement. The Nexus line of products are here to set the device bar very high.

Is it crazy to think that Google should reclaim control of the Android brand from the carriers they signed 'deals with the devil' to get Android started?

While I may live in Apple's walled garden, I can appreciate how far the Android mobile OS has improved. Most notably 4.1+. I also think getting the OS refined will lead to more app developers coming to Google Play - especially for tablets. Android is no longer playing catchup to iOS. Both ecosystems can look down at the other fledgling platforms and laugh.

If only device manufactures and carriers would take notice and raise their standards. Stop with these manufacturer OS skins and carrier branded devices. I am still a believer that the Android product line should be cut by a third if not a half. How can it be cost effective to release a new device every month or so?

If a consumer does not pickup your fancy new device at launch they might as well wait for the next release a few weeks later.

Google will continue to separate themselves from this group. Such a move will split the Android device market into two tiers - Google and the cheap knockoffs. Google will normalize the prices for their now premium devices ($400-500 unlocked). While at the same time gaining leverage over the carriers. Google's devices get the pure Android experience. Others get a basic OS to customize like Amazon - no Android branding.

I like how Goza's buying decision was based on the device. [gozasc.com ]

He then had a separate transaction for the carrier. I for one hope this becomes the norm. Buy devices directly from manufactures. Carriers are reduced to mere service providers where they have to compete for consumer dollars.

A consumer utopia? Maybe. But the times they are a changin.

Google's Android and ASOP are two different things, right?

I wish that I could have purchased the Nexus 4. If I would have stayed on ATT&T a little while longer, I could have gotten the Nexus 4 but my fiancee and all of our family and friends are on VZW, so there's that. I felt like at the time that the Galaxy Nexus as the more superior Android device at the time.

Whoa, I got a plug from Willimac! I'm humbled and honored. Seriously, new site should be coming that will look better, and I plan to write more. Anyways...

Android = AOSP. All of Android is open source, but AOSP is the official, 100% vanilla Android that has been blessed by Google. Most of the best ROMs, including AOKP (my personal choice), start with AOSP code and build on it from the ground up.

I think Google reclaiming the brand would be smart, but unlikely. The "O" in AOSP is what makes it unique and sets it apart from the other operating systems.

However, I did like the rumor I heard suggesting that Google would soon publish a list of requirements for a Nexus device. Then any manufacturer could create a device based on these specs and have it emblazoned with the Nexus name. Unfortunately, these rumors were circulating prior to the launch of the Nexus 4 so they are now less likely to be true.

Windows Phone 7 tried to do something similar, but it didn't seem to pan out so well. Their Nokia handsets are really the only ones people know about. It'd be great if all of the current major Android manufacturers were to put out their own Nexus: HTC, Sony, Samsung, LG, and Google's own Motorola brand.

After each had their own flagship Nexus-approved handset, they could phase out all the old stuff and do away with the fragmentation "problem" that iOS users love to shout about so damn much. If every phone was a Nexus phone, they would all be capable of receiving the latest updates immediately.

It's tough having a Nexus phone and a friend with a Galaxy S III. They ask me a question on how to do something and I tell them how it's done on my phone, but because of the manufacturer skin they're forced to use the task has to be done in a different manner.

heard sometimes before in indian newspaper as google is gonna get some spectrum in indian market to set up a mobile teliphone company.. not sure how much correct is it... any possibilities??

Lots of rumors swirling about a possible dealing with T-Mobile in the States, not sure about India.

i think the confusion comes from consumers thinking all android phones are google phones. i think people think the experience is the same. if google doesn't show why it's better to have a pure android experience as apposed a skin.

the nexus 7 is selling really well, even though it has significantly less marketing dollars behind it as compared to samsung's note series.

Schmidt said it, they are this millenniums microsoft. i think price matters as much as relevance. google is out there regardless. people buy from the google play store regardless. they make no money off devices. why is the physical hardware the priority.

ubiquity may work in googles favor.

i do think google should continue to set the standard though.

I think Morgan is right about his first paragraph, especially. That's most obvious and best illustrated every time someone says "I have a Droid!" and they're toting around a Samsung Galaxy-series phone. Motorola's advertising branch plainly did a great job with that campaign.

That doesn't really answer Will's original question of whether or not Google should reclaim control of the Android brand, but I would certainly say it's the most compelling argument for them to do so. If I was a completely ignorant buyer in the market for my first smartphone and I picked up a Samsung Infuse 4G, then held an iPhone 5, I would laugh heartily at the Infuse and buy an iPhone.

iPhones are very easily identified and labeled through the use of numbers which tell you what iteration it is. An iPhone 4 is obviously older than an iPhone 5. Android device naming, on the other hand, is all over the place. Galaxy, Nexus, Infuse, Aspire, One X... it's too cluttered for a non-tech savvy buyer to distinguish which one is better. The only way to tell is scouring spec sheets and doing research.

So again, if I was Google I wouldn't want to run the risk of someone using a non-flagship device such as the Infuse 4G and thinking that was the best my company had to offer. Give them a Nexus 4 and they'll say, "Is this really Android, too?"

+very true david. but i think googles brand is ubiquitous. android doesn't suffer from consumer ignorance...yet.

i think the problem was more prevalent when android sucked, but motorla was the only one doing anything worth while. so the best device (at the time) got the name.

now there are a couple of good devices. more each day. the problem now is what is android. i think i mean the pinnacle of the android experience. for me is vanilla android, but for consumers is samsungs sense.

continued....

hardware is getting more of the credibility for the experience instead of the UI. so people are doing a spec game when it probably should be how the hardware handles the software.

when google makes a device the hardware and software work better together. people just don't know that that will create a better experience.

to wills original point. would it hurt google to close down android, so the market will see less devices and less shitty devices and therefore kill marketshare and everything that comes with it?
....i think so.

i think companies should pay for android. and the quality set that someone mentioned above. that's how they could control their product and hopefully influence their brand.

i would but then again i don't run a multi billion dollar company.

googles job was to disrupt and make competition. microsoft is trying to answer. hopefully blackberry follows.

come to think of it. when people see the galaxy note 2, do they see google or samsung? if they see samsung, google's brand is fine...it's just not being all it could be.

David has a good point. but i don't think the amount of devices is the problem (it's one of them but not necessarily the biggest).

i think the problem is knowing what is a quality product and what isn't. android is everywhere. not just phones. android has a farther reach than apple because android or an iteration of it can go anywhere.

for Google's android to be relevant across different platforms that need to lock this shit down. especially with cable boxes, tvs, refrigerators and such coming in the future....

I think Morgan's point regarding pure technical specs is also relevant. The people who do actually read spec sheets are usually looking for pure GHz, core count, and "how many gee-bees of memory" a device has. They can't comprehend that less can be more if the base OS has less bloat, not unlike a stock Macbook Pro side by side with a retail Windows laptop. Even with a slower processor and less memory, the Mac will almost always feel faster and smoother the same way stock Android feels faster and smoother compared to a skinned version.

But I still can't understand how people think Sense is any good. In order to make a folder in stock Android, all you do is drag one app icon on top of another a la iOS. With Sense you have to long-press on the screen, create a blank folder first, THEN drag your apps into it. That is a whole extra step and makes using it onerous.

Google also let a lot of people down with products such as GoogleTV. I believe their failure to support a relatively new product could potentially lessen the faith fo a customer who has one and is now in the market for a mobile device. "They didn't update my Google TV, so what makes me think they'll do any better on a phone-- a device that I rely on daily?"

true. i loath sense. when i compare pure android to any skin, i prefer pure android. and pure android is the ui that is getting better.

the other point you made is that google doesn't have a history of supporting product launches. that's a misstep. i think it comes from the thinking the better products will prevail. that isn't true. beta max was better than vhs. hddvd was more accessible than blu ray. etc.

wonder what would change if google promoted their products. the adds for chrome are awesome. they have a really good internal ad agency that worked on them the people on that account have some really good agency experience. it shows in google promos that they do now.

I really like the rumor David mentioned on how Google could offer the Nexus brand to devices meeting a certain spec. I think this puts Google in the driver's seat again. Only focusing on the top tier devices. Let 3rd parties develop on a barebones version of Android like what the Kindle Fire is running. The device manufacturer can name it whatever they want - except for Android.

However, thinking about it more the device naming also mentioned above is problematic. Nexus 4, 7 and 10 are in relation to screen size. What will the next family of Nexus devices be named - Nexus 4(2013), 7(2013) and 10(2013) or a silly S like iPhones?

Nowadays you really need to know what gen hardware you're buying or else you can easily be screwed over. Apple muddied the waters by stripping the iPad of its numerical suffix with "the new iPad." I thought that was poor when it was announced and I think it's poor now.

The only industry to ever do naming right has been the automotive industry. If I want to buy a truck I search by a year, make, and model. So if I buy a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado, I know exactly what it will look like before I buy it. I know it was the last year of that body style, and the 2007 year model is different. If you need to specify further into a particular package you can look for a Silverado LS, LT, or LTZ.

Similarly, most smartphones only differ in capacity: 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB.

There needs to be an industry-wide shift to name phones as such. The next iPhone should be the 2013 iPhone 16GB, and the next Nexus should be the 2013 LG Nexus 16GB. Obviously the Nexus line will have to have an additional prefix to specify its manufacturer as these have shifted over the years and are likely to continue this trend.

I think Apple tried too hard with the "new iPad" moniker as they are forever trying to shave off words to make room for more white cardboard and plastic. Heaven forbid a box say "2013 iPad 64GB" instead of just "iPad."

If they keep expanding the Nexus line to other manufacturers like they're doing and make the Nexus line more evident, then there is no need for them to take back control of Android.

I know this is an old thread, but i needed to ad it:
arstechnica.com

this is why google needs to take control of a google brand (anything that has the google logo on the back) to me this comes back to customer service. if you invest in the customer they feel like they can spend money on your product.