Sometimes I wonder if the view from Mountain View, Calif., is a little obscured by giant piles of cash -- Google buys a big smartphone maker in Motorola and then spends the next year further cozying up to its biggest competitor to make its signature Nexus phones?
The latest report from Digitimes -- admittedly not the most consistently accurate cog in the rumor mill -- says Google is looking to Samsung again to put out its next Nexus model.
Nexus phones are designed to serve as a sort of keystone for the Android OS, a way to remind consumers and phone makers of how an Android phone should/could be. You probably know the most recent came in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which has proven to be one of the more popular Android phones of the year so far.
Google takes bids from smartphone makers for its Nexus models, with the first in the series coming from HTC. The next two, the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus came from Samsung. If Digitimes is correct, it would give the Korean phone maker a Google hat trick or maybe a turkey, depending on whether hockey or bowling is more popular in Korea.
Digitimes' sources apparently say that Samsung is the logical choice because of its widespread success with the Galaxy Nexus and other Android models, as well as "its ability to control the supply of key components."
So if Samsung is also creating the follow-up to the Galaxy Nexus, where does that leave Motorola? Looks as though Google's mobile stepchild isn't getting any special treatment. Perhaps it's all part of a grand strategy to make it stronger and more competitive, I just hope it doesn't lead to Motorola making an ugly scene at the Thanksgiving dinner table -- "How could you let them make your cool new phone? Um, hello -- I invented the cell phone, remember? Perhaps you saw all those patents? I'm never calling you Dad!"