Google reportedly expanding Nexus program, will sell direct to consumers

Google’s Nexus program has always produced some of the best devices running the Android mobile operating system, but most users have not had access to these fabled handsets. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google is working with multiple hardware partners to revitalize the Nexus program this fall. This would mean more access to un-skinned Android for consumers, and earlier code access for OEMs.

The WSJ claims that the practice of relying on a single “hero device” each holiday season is being done away with. Instead, Google is going to be working with as many as five hardware partners to make Nexus devices simultaneously. Five OEMs would essentially constitute the entirety of the Android ecosystem. This move also helps ease concerns over favoritism in the Nexus program. The maker of the device every year will get access to the new version of the platform early, which can be a real advantage. With Google’s pending Motorola acquisition, it needs to maintain impartiality.

The new batch of Nexus devices would be both phones and tablets, but all would be sold through the Google Play Store. The phones would come unlocked and contract-free, meaning that GSM/HSPA radios (that’s AT&T and T-Mobile) will be the name of the game. CDMA phones, like those on Sprint and Verizon, need carrier provisioning and are usually subjected to more testing.

Sources indicate that some of these devices could be sold through more traditional retail means as well. Google began selling the unlocked Galaxy Nexus in the Play Store several weeks ago, which could be a trial run for this rumored initiative. Could there be as many as five launch devices for Android 5.0 Jellybean? Perhaps we’ll hear something at Google I/O in a few weeks.

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