Android: Will Google slowly move away from the brand?

Android has conquered the tech-world – or at least much of its mobile part. In the gigantic smartphone market, Android today takes a similar position as Microsoft Windows in the PC market.

Some may think that this is a reason for Google to be proud of its successful product. But as the website 9to5Google noticed: At the recent "Made by Google" event, Google didn't mention Android even once, despite announcing the Android-powered Pixel 3 smartphones there.

That is seemingly no coincidence, as Google has reduced its reliance on the Android brand for quite some time. A lot of the Google apps have lost the Android name and the Google smartwatch OS, which once was called "Android Wear" is now called "Wear OS". Also, Google announced a new tablet at the "Made by Google" keynote, which runs Chrome OS instead of Android.

Is Google really giving up on Android? It might be a bit too soon for that, but the search giant may really move in this direction. Instead of using Android on other products, the company rather relies on the Google brand overall.

It seems like Google has made similar experiences with Android as Microsoft with Windows: Despite the dominance of both brands in their respective market, the names could not be utilized to give other products a positive image. This phenomenon might be connected with the image of Android: Like Windows, its a system that is often criticized. In the case of Android, one consistent weak-point is the update policy that condemns many smartphones to outdated versions of the OS, which might give some users a negative image of the brand.

While Android as a system will still be used in the near future, there are hints that Google might indeed move past the OS – the Fuchsia operating system could succeed both Android and Chrome OS.

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