Newsletter
Android Moving Forward
Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility finally received China’s approval. As part of the agreement Google has agreed to keep Android open and free for at least the next five years, in arrangement they had stated would be the case back with the deal was announced last summer. Which means as it stands Google still needs to address fragmentation, and gaining tablet market share. With Motorola as their hardware arm, there are a few keys moves that they could take in order to sure up a number of Android’s weaknesses moving forward.
Fragmentation
Google appears to be addressing the problem of fragmentation head on, with the rumored five Nexus device launch planned for later this year with Android 5.0 Jelly Bean. This a departure from their one Nexus one partner ways of the past and signals they know that their is a need to get their updated OS out to a much larger group of consumers. With each manufacturer having a Nexus model their will be an option for all of the consumer needs and for each of the different carriers world wide, and available in the Google Play Store. This move will also show carriers that consumers do indeed want the latest version of Android when they opt for Nexus model instead of the skinned option with older Android versions.
Whether or not they decide to get rid of the Moto skin over Android, Google can make Motorola the manufacturer that gets updates out to all their devices in the timeliest of manners. With all manufacturers being a part of Nexus program they will not be able to call foul saying Moto had early access and will only have themselves to blame for their prolonged update process. With ICS released last November and still only running on 5% of Android devices updates are a major issue and Moto could light a fire under other manufacturers if they are known for having quick and consistent updates.
Would you consider getting a non Nexus Moto device if you knew they had updates, under control and timely? Do you think it would cause other OEMs to get more serious about their app updates and help the Android fragmentation issues?