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There are days where a trend you noticed becomes absolutely visible. Today is one of those days.
I have seen the Android brand disappear over time. First, it was the Nexus, then Samsung came with the Galaxy brand, who made Android less relevant. Now, Android is just invisible.
I thought Google was losing a war against its partners, but I finally concluded that it cannot be just a coincidence. It is not just a trend. It is a deliberate effort. By Google.
At Mobile World Congress last year, Android was everywhere. The Android space was the biggest of all. It was all about Android and a bit about the hardware manufacturers.
This year (BTW, if you are going to Barcelona and you want to meet, just let me know), Android will be absent at MWC 2013. No space, no booth. Gone.
If you read about the new HTC One, you’ll have a hard time finding Android anywhere. HTC is trying to promote its brand, Android is way in the background. Gone.
Of course, Android is dominant. So much that saying you sell an “Android phone” makes you a cheap commodity play. Nobody wants that, they all want to be cool and different. Leave Android to the Chinese knock-offs.
However, it is not just the device manufacturers. It is Google killing the brand. They moved away from it when Android Market became Google Play, and they are distancing themselves even more now.
They want Google to be the brand, not Android.
Risky business? I am not sure. Who cares about Android? Developers. Only developers.
Even if you water down the brand, developers will know it. It does not make a difference. You are not going to lose developers because you are de-emphasizing the brand.
However, having two brands confuses consumers. Google is planning to open flagship stores. They have bought an hardware manufacturer. They are changing, and they want Google front and central.
Who knows the word iOS? Nobody (oh, you do, but you are a geek).
People out there know Apple. They know iPhone and iPad. iOS is for geeks. It is hidden inside. For those who can tell the difference between a V12 and a V6 engine (see, maybe you are not a geek after all).
Android is now so dominant, it can be killed. Because it is just what’s inside. What matters, it is the outside.
Gone is Android. Killed by its own father.
Believe me, you want to buy a Google.
To unlock more Android news, tips, and features, check out Samsung’s Your Mobile Life over here.
Fabrizio Capobianco is the Founder and CEO of TOK.tv. He also serves as President and Chairman of Funambol, which he founded in 2003 and which grew to be the leading mobile open source company in the world.
Fabrizio likes pretty much every sport and spends a great deal of his life watching it on TV (finally, not alone). He is a successful entrepreneur, having founded several Italian high tech companies, and has extensive expertise in the mobile industry, with work experience that includes Reuters and Tibco.
He has a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Pavia, Italy, with a focus on usability. He has been recognized as a top ’40 under 40′ high tech leader and mobile visionary. He writes a blog that was voted among the best in the industry by FierceWireless, at www.fabcapo.com.
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Interesting. Then again, they really never promoted it, or controlled use of the (robot) logo that much, at least, not as strictly as a firm like Apple would. Heck, the rules on where to display the Made For iPod symbol are probably stricter!
Google created / acquired Android to get as much hardware as possible to surf their ecosystem, as you elude to. Heck (again!), even Apple’s hardware is used to access Google services, almost everyone I know with an iOS device (my included) has dropped (if ever using it in the first place!) Apple maps for the recent Google maps release with turn by turn directions.
Knowledge is power, and Google are all about knowledge, so the host OS is becoming a non issue. Android provided a showcase. Job done! Now for Phase 2…
This is no different that with the other dominant OS out there – Windows. Laptops or desktops don’t promote themselves as Windows devices, but as their own brand that happens to run windows. The same will become of Android. People will be sold on the individual brand of the device and the image that goes with it, but they will want the reassurance that this is all built on a consistent OS which is branded as Android. If anything I would say that the Android brand is stronger than ever before as it becomes a ubiquitous common denominator
I’m not sure that’s true especially when it comes to a new major release of Windows. Then the manufacturers are very quick to promote the OS.
It’s not quite the same for Android which offers free upgrades but there will always be a marketable advantage to incrementing the version number even if it is just for us geeks.
I guess being invisible while ubiquitous is typical of the Skynet’s M.O.
I can vouch for this. In my local Currys / PC World there is a Chrome ‘shop-in-shop’, it had a large Chrome logo. It had only been installed a few months and Google went back in and removed the Chrome logo and installed a Google one. I agree completely, it’s all about the brand, and everyone knows Google.
As previously a J2ME programmer when Android first arrived I had high hopes it would unify the fragmented mess which was the mobile phones but it rapidly became clear that Android was just more of the same with a different face. I think Google has finally conceded defeat the manufactures just wont play ball, they are more concerned with differentiating themselves by hacking the OS and bolting on gimmicks and why not, they aren’t the same company, they have to compete with one another and gimmicks themselves are the evolution of technology.
Perhaps the manufactures will now concentrate on eliminating fragmentation between there own devices but I wont hold my breath its not as if these companies are run by Steve Jobs clones, they are run by corporate types who are more concerned with bringing the next gimmick to market as quickly as possible before their competitors and to hell with mess they create in doing so. But at least Developers can now focus on handsets from individual manufactures as opposed to the 2000 + disparate handsets currently in the Android market.
I think this article sums up the problems Android faces. Had high hopes for Android.
http://www.cio.com/article/729274/Why_Samsung_Won_t_Beat_Blackberry_in_the_Mobile_Enterprise
Android isn’t a brand. It’s an OS.
Windows isn’t a brand. OSX isn’t a brand. It’s down to hardware. You don’t hear people saying that they have just gone and bought a new OSX laptop or a new Windows laptop. It’s a MacBook Pro or a Dell, Lenovo, HP, etc.
Android is the Windows of the mobile space. Loads of hardware options, same OS.
As an Android, Windows, OSX and iOS user, I don’t care about OS, it’s irrelevant, always has been. POSIX…. that is all.
And yes… I realise that not everything is fully POSIX compliant. Fact is, it can be made to be, if not, there are ways to talk between them. Hardware wins over software here.
I’ve noticed that when non-techie people admire whatever awesome shiny non-iphone I am using, and ask what it is, I get a blank stare when I say its an Android phone. Then when I explain that its a Google phone, the lights come back on and they understand
So this is probably a smart move on Google’s part
i’m glad google made the play store & dedicated into make sleek stock android phones.. i hate branded bloatware UI touchwiz sense etc, it makes androids look cheap & ugly, most samsung, HTC, sony phones look ugly in design & UI.
the first android i liked was the nexus 4, it looks sleek & the stock android looks amazing. would’ve kept it if they improved battery life.
it’s one of the reasons i prefer and iphone, they look great, stock ios experience no brand crap.