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According to a (paywalled) report in The Information, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wants the company to take greater control over development of their Nexus smartphones. When producing Nexus phones, Google has always partnered with manufacturers, like Samsung, LG, and HTC, who actually built the devices. Rather than creating a true revenue stream, Google's main goal has been to provide a reference for what Android can be like without interference from carriers and manufacturers. (For example, many users are frustrated by Samsung's TouchWiz skin, as well as the bloatware resulting from deals with carriers.
But now, Google appears to want more control. The report indicates Google wants to do a better job of competing throughout the market. They want to compete with Apple on the high end, but also seem concerned that manufacturers haven't put enough effort into quality budget phones. The article at Droid-Life argues, "We all know that Nexus phones will never be household items until Google puts some marketing dollars behind them. Will a top-to-bottom approach finally push them to do that?"
(Score: 1) by dr_barnowl on Thursday February 04 2016, @10:11AM
I'm thankful that it was "take control over the direction" rather than "put their Nexus phones in a walled garden which they rule with an iron fist".
Although TBH, I liked the app landscape on my N900 much more - because I could trust all the apps. My Android phone mostly just has Google apps on it with very few others, because until Marshmallow (which I can't have without tinkering with my Nexus 4), you had no control over the individual permissions an app has.
The N900 had no such granular permission system AFAIK, but all the apps were open-source.