Google is no stranger to rebrands and killing off products. The company just up and completely nixed the Hangouts branding from its messaging stack earlier last month. And now, the rumors suggest that Android TV may be next in line.
Yeah, you are reading that right. As per a source close to 9to5Google, Android TV may soon be called Google TV. The company has steadily phased out the Android branding from several products including Messages, Android Pay, and others over the past few years.
Google has been streamlining its software portfolio, of recent, trying to get people to associate Android simply with its mobile operating system. It even dropped the sweet naming tradition and simply stuck with Android 11 for this year’s release. Remember Android Wear and how it was renamed to WearOS for more clarity. I mean, I get what Google is trying to do here. None of these operating systems have anything to do with Android per se, so why not brand it as Google XYZ instead of Android XYZ, Made by Google. The former just makes more sense.
Also, I think it may be a good time to point out that the company is going full circle by rebranding Android TV to Google TV in 2020. It started out with Google TV as its first smart TV platform, developed in partnership with Intel, Sony, and Logitech, back in 2010. It was Android TV that succeeded the Google TV branding. And now, Google TV might be revived again. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below.
