In a move to keep their brand in the minds of consumers, Google is enforcing a new policy that will put the Android name in front of more pairs of eyes. From now on, any Android device must display a "Powered by Android" logo when booting.
Showing the logo when turning on is required in order to access the Google Play store, a pretty extreme measure, but one with which every manufacturer will no doubt comply. Access to the platform's digital marketplace is obviously a necessity, and refusing to display a logo is not worth losing it.
This move should reinforce the importance of the Android brand, and I wonder if Google feels there is some confusion among consumers about what Android is. I think it's possible many people don't know the phones and devices they're running are powered by the operating system--or that that's what Android actually is.
A lot of this, in my own experience, is confusion created by the Droid smartphone, one of the first very popular Android phones that mixed the operating system with the specific device in the non-enthusiast public eye.
By putting 'Powered by Android' on the startup screen of all devices using the OS, Google may inform, or at least remind, consumers that they are using Android. Of course, a lot of people using an Android phone may not need that reminder, but there are plenty of economical Android phones out there being used by more casual or less-informed consumers who have no interest in what their device is running. Putting the Android name in front of more people at the small cost of a boot-up logo can only help Google's brand.
Source: Venture Beat
