Google Instituting New “Powered By Android” Branding
Despite the overwhelming popularity of the Android operating system, Android is not quite a household name. Majority of your “average Joe and Jane” users don’t know that their Samsung or HTC runs Android and, frankly, most people don’t really care as long as it works.
Nevertheless, it appears that Google is wanting to up the presence of the Android brand as they have allegedly instituted a new branding policy for OEM’s. According to Geek.com, all OEM’s are going to be required to showcase the above “Powered by Android” logo on their boot screen. If they don’t have this branding they don’t get access to the Play Store. Currently both the upcoming Galaxy S5 and HTC One (M8) come with this branding and if all this is true, all future devices will have this as well.
As Google continues to diversify their lineup of Android powered devices (ie. Google Glass and Android Wear) they likely want to create a unified image and brand that consumers will reocgnize. If someone knows that their smartphone is “powered by Android” they’ll likely be more inclined to by a smartwatch that is also powered by Android or an Android tablet or possibly an Android powered Home Automation system (if and when those come about). It’s a good move in my opinion and I can’t wait to see the other markets that Google invades with the Android OS.
[Geek]