There’s no mystery that Google (GOOG) is collaborating with Motorola on the so-called “X Phone” at least in part to weaken Samsung’s (005930) hold on the Android ecosystem. And now Benedict Evans, a strategy consultant for Enders Analysis, points us to some charts showing why Google is so eager to contain Samsung: It seems that Samsung’s Galaxy brand may be overtaking Google’s Android brand in terms of consumer awareness.
Using a Google Trends graph, Evans shows how the Galaxy brand has been rising steadily for years in tandem with the Android brand in terms of web search volume, and for the first time briefly eclipsed Android in worldwide searches this past December. That’s obviously great news for Samsung but not such great news for Google, which has traditionally preferred that no one vendor dominate the sales of devices based its mobile operating system.
