Both Google and MS use a business model based on them making the OS and using OEM partners to build the devices. This article discusses Google's "android problem" of the OS now being associated more with the Samsung galaxy brand than it is with Google:
http://readwrite.com/2013/03/07/android-is-dead-long-live-google
I find this an interesting read, especially in light of Google's admission that this has become a concern, their rebranding the Android Market to Google Play, and Google Nexus phones as attempts to shift the brand awareness.
It appears that Google seems to be veering away from having Android as an open distribution towards more of Apple's walled garden approach.
If you look at Windows Phone's relationship with Nokia right now you can draw some interesting parallels to Google and Samsung. Your average consumer clearly sees Nokia emblazoned across the top of every phone, as well as several Nokia branded apps within the OS. I'll be interested to see whether history repeats itself and what MS would do about it. I can't imagine that MS isn't watching how this unfolds. This is a different situation than their relationship with PC OEMs because unlike the phones it's very obvious that you're using Microsoft Windows. The branding is right there at boot up and the logo, and the decades of Windows PC brand recognition.
http://readwrite.com/2013/03/07/android-is-dead-long-live-google
I find this an interesting read, especially in light of Google's admission that this has become a concern, their rebranding the Android Market to Google Play, and Google Nexus phones as attempts to shift the brand awareness.
It appears that Google seems to be veering away from having Android as an open distribution towards more of Apple's walled garden approach.
If you look at Windows Phone's relationship with Nokia right now you can draw some interesting parallels to Google and Samsung. Your average consumer clearly sees Nokia emblazoned across the top of every phone, as well as several Nokia branded apps within the OS. I'll be interested to see whether history repeats itself and what MS would do about it. I can't imagine that MS isn't watching how this unfolds. This is a different situation than their relationship with PC OEMs because unlike the phones it's very obvious that you're using Microsoft Windows. The branding is right there at boot up and the logo, and the decades of Windows PC brand recognition.