Nexus fans might be in for a bit of a shock as reports have emerged that Google may be planning to bin the popular brand in favour of “Play Edition” hardware.
The word comes via Twitter tech soothsayer Eldar Murtazin, who also adds that the devices wouldn’t arrive under the Play Edition name and that this too will be re-branded.
Nexus line by Google is over in 2015 ;) Yes - this line will be replaced by Play Edition (current name, it will be rebranded)
— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) January 27, 2014
But it’s that specific choice of words which is where Nexus fans could have cause for alarm. If it was simply a case of Google re-branding the Nexus brand as Play Edition, or something similar, many would surely not have problem. But in saying that the Play Edition name could be re-branded it strongly suggests it’s not the name that’s being adopted so much as the practice of using manufacturer’s own flagships with stock Android stuffed inside.
So far we’ve seen Play Editions of the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.
Some reports have theorised this may be a move by Google to keep a bit of Android loyalty from partners. It’s thought that manufacturers don’t particularly like competing with Nexus devices when they can’t undercut the price in the same way the big G likes to.
And for Nexus-like phones, Google-owned Motorola is certainly making moves in similar territory these days with the likes of the Moto X and Moto G. While both those phones are quite modestly specced, this doesn’t exclude Motorola from producing something with a pretty fearsome set of hardware at a lower cost just like Google did with Nexus.
What do we make of this prediction? Well, it’s possible, if it is a case of Google leveraging an increasingly visible Motorola and appeasing its OEM partners, which with all the talk of Microsoft poaching Samsung and Sony for Windows Phone, isn’t an unreasonable reaction.
Murtazin has been accurate with some interesting news in the past, but there has been the occasional snippet that’s turned out to be way off base. So for now we’ll take it with a grain of salt, but it’s an interesting idea nonetheless.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
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