Looks like Google is going to try its darndest to not play favorites with the recent Motorola acquisition. According to Andy Rubin, the recent purchase of Motorola won’t give it first dibs on the Nexus line. Rubin affirms that there’s a process behind who gets to be the next Nexus manufacturer.
We have this strategy where we have this Nexus program, and we have this lead device strategy. That strategy has worked quite well to help focus the team.
What we do is that we select each — around Christmastime of each year — we select a manufacturer that we work very closely with to release a device in that time frame. That includes, also, semiconductor companies and all of the components that go in the device.
Essentially the teams huddle together in one building. They jointly work in these development efforts — they go on for nine to 12 months. And ultimately at the holiday season, or right before it, devices pop out that are based on this effort.
We don’t expect that to change at all. The acquisition is going to be run as a separate business. They will be part of that bidding process, and part of that lead development process. And obviously Android remains open to other partners to use as they are today.
While we still don’t know who exactly will be making this year’s Nexus handset, if it’s not Motorola this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if Moto bid for the spot the next go-around. That said, Motorola needs to tweak a couple of handset components to make a handset worthy of the Nexus line (not using crap Pentile displays would be a nice start). Motorola was rumored to be making the second Nexus handset a while back, and I’d still love to see the Shadow materialize. (In render form)
Even with the rumors of Samsung being the front-runner for the next Nexus handset, I’d say that LG and Motorola actually have a good shot, too. Either way, Google’s attempt to play fair is obviously smart and should also be relieving for other partners.
Speaking of the Nexus line, what manufacturer would you like to see the next Pure Google phone come from this year?
[Via: AndroidCentral]