Google to Sell Its Own Version of Samsung’s Galaxy S4

A  Galaxy S4 from Google must be the surprise of all recent high tech conferences. When Google GOOG +3.26% CEO Larry Page visited Samsung in South Korea two weeks ago, all the attention focused on a possible partnership between the two in TVs.

Today, at its I/O Conference, though Google announced the seriously unexpected – a new variant of the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Google version. It will start selling in the US on June 26th and will cost $649.

Though it is already being described as a Nexus, it seems not to be. And Google had no qualms about describing it as an S4.

The announcement has a number of significant elements to it.

The first, obviously, is that this is a huge endorsement from brand Google, two days afterApple AAPL -3.38% asked for the S4 to be listed in its massive patent litigation against Samsung.

The second is the pressure it puts on Motorola to do more than the S4 does, when MMI launches the first Google/Motorola collaboration later this year. The S4 is about as advanced as it gets in current production-grade  mobile display technology. But Motorola has to top it or it will barely signal a hardware innovation under Google’s tutelage.

The third is something of a reprimand to Samsung for the work it has done on Android. TechCrunch had this to say about it:

What’s interesting about this is that Samsung emphasized all its software additions to the stock Android experience at the Galaxy S4 launch event, and this is basically stripping all that away. Reviewers seemed more or less overwhelmed by Samsung’s software smorgasbord, so this might result in a much better device overall.

AP has this to say:

It will run on a newer version of the Android operating system, version 4.2. The Android version will still be called Jelly Bean, rather than Key Lime Pie — the next in a series of dessert-themed code names. It will be unlocked, meaning it will work with any carrier, including those abroad. But it also means the price won’t be subsidized by the carrier

I think the relevance goes deep. This is a substantial signal that Google and Samsung are collaborating. Following rumors earlier this year that the two companies had fallen out over Samsung’s Android dominance, it surely dispels that. But is must also signal more to come from the two in tandem, maybe starting with hardware surprises in the next Motorola phone. We might confidently expect more from Google’s Project Samsung.