Last week it was announced that Google is working on a new brand of smartphones to be branded as “Silver”, in what looks like an initiative to seize back control of its Android OS.

Silver looks to be a declaration of war on the likes of Samsung and other device makers. In a similar fashion to its old Nexus range, the Silver-branded handsets will be designed and subsidized by Google, which will also handpick manufacturers and manage production. And as with the Nexus, the Silver handsets will be first to receive any new updates for Android – hardly a surprise since manufacturers are notoriously slow at pushing these out anyway – and all hardware will need to meet strict specifications as laid out by Google.

The biggest takeaway is that all Silver-branded handsets must run on Google’s untainted flavor of Android, which means the highly customized, bloatware-packed versions seen on phones made by Samsung, Sony et al won’t be allowed.

Word of ‘Silver’ first emerged last month by way of Android Police, and has since been corroborated by The Information and various other sources.

Android Police obtained several slides that show Google will be in charge of designing and producing the hardware, and it will also subsidize and orchestrate the marketing campaigns for these devices. The slides also show that Silver-branded phones will be among the first to get updates, while users will be able to access an exclusive support forum that’s unavailable to other Android phone users.

Your data has a SILVER lining for Google

It looks as if Silver is an attempt by Google to wrest back control of the Android experience, and it could cause some mild panic over at Samsung. Now that Google is designing devices, OEMs are essentially relegated to designing plastic cases and box packaging. With Google’s requirements so strict, it’s difficult to see how OEMs could do anything to differentiate and add value to their products.

What Google wants from all of this is more data. Presently, companies like Samsung pre-install dozens of apps and services in their Android phones that duplicate those of Google. It’s no secret that Google would rather people use its apps and services than those of its rivals, and Silver is it’s not-so-discreet way of making sure people do. Such data is hugely important for Google after all – advertising revenue is its bread and butter, and it’s worth noting that all of its competitors in the mobile arena have some alternative source of revenue, be it Microsoft with its IT offerings, Apple’s high-margin hardware, or Samsung’s fridges and TVs. On the other hand, Google doesn’t have much alternative besides the ads it sells.

It’ll be interesting to see how Samsung, Sony, HTC and others respond to this development. So far, these companies have all resisted the temptation to either fork Android or knuckle under and do what Google asks. But now they must be weighing up their options – do they toe Google’s line and lose access to their customer’s data, do they go and fork Android like Amazon and Nokia have done, or will they turn to a different OS such as Windows Phone or Tizen instead?

photo credit: ~Steve Z~ via photopin cc