Android is the operating system of choice for a large portion of the mobile market but the average consumer probably isn’t aware of such fact. That’s because most mobile manufacturers (HTC for instance) hide Android or any reference to it under a custom user interface.
Recent changes to the Google Mobile Service agreement for new Android handsets, however, aim to change that and build some brand recognition for the search giant’s mobile operating system.
Specifically, the changes mandate that mobile manufacturers must use the “powered by Android” branding in order to gain access to the Google Play Store. Or in other words, pretty much everyone must comply.
The logo doesn’t have to appear on the handset or tablet itself but on the splash screen while booting up. According to a document obtained by Android Police, said logo must be pretty large (at least half an inch tall in most cases) and it has to be prominently displayed – as in, you can't try and hide it in a mess of animations.
So far, we’ve seen the new logo show up on the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8 – neither of which are out just yet (unless you happen to live in South Korea) and there’s little reason to believe we won’t see it on virtually every Android-powered device moving forward.
The only real question is why did Google wait this long to try and build brand recognition?
