Google‘s Nexus line-up of smartphones and tablets has been fairly popular, although it hasn’t been too successful in terms of sales. The search giant is now aiming to replace its Nexus branding with the premium Android ‘Silver’ program.
Nexus handsets currently stand out in the general Android arena because they come with the purest stock Android experience. Moreover, Google has been aggressively trimming down the prices and recent top-end Nexus handsets have been very affordable compared to other top-end offerings from Samsung, HTC and Apple.
So why exactly hasn’t Nexus been a resounding success in terms of sales? The answer is simple: Google has kept the sales of its Nexus handsets limited to its online store. While Google Play does have a huge audience, it is still only one way of selling handsets. A better way would be to partner with retailers, make the handsets available on a huge number of brick-and-mortar stores as well and advertise the new releases aggressively.
And this is precisely what Google is planning to do with its new ‘Silver’ program. As part of this program, Google will offer premium Android handsets with a minimum number of pre-installed apps and a number of new features such as water-proof body and high-quality voice-recognition. The aim here is to pit Android handsets under the Silver program against the likes of Galaxy S5 and iPhone 5S. Google is finally rising up to the challenge by putting its back into this fresh wave of official Android devices.
What is most significant is that according to reports, Google is willing to fund the ad campaigns of the devices under this program. This budget can go as far up as $1 billion, the sort of advertising extravaganza that can finally bolster the sales of the handsets.
Source: The Information
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