Google mandating that ‘powered by Android’ logo to appear on boot-up screen

Android Central recently noticed that the Samsung Galaxy S5 boot-up screen had one curious addition to the screen, in the form of a somewhat large ‘Powered by Android’ logo appearing on the bottom of the screen. This also seemed the case for the recently launched HTC One (M8) smartphone as well.

There has been a fair bit of speculation that this latest addition to the boot-up screen was the result of a meeting between Google and leading Android manufacturers. However, it now seems this is part of a much larger plan currently playing out.

According to an email confirmed by Geek, Google is requiring all Android manufacturers that include its services (Gmail, Google Maps, etc.) on a device to prominently display the same “powered by Android” stamp on their devices. As stated earlier above, HTC have included the exact same language or stamp during the boot sequence on its recently launched One (M8). This development seems to support this “mandate” theory for Android manufacturers.

If this “mandate” speculation is well and truly correct, it would be a bit odd that Google is suddenly demanding that hardware makers call out its operating system by name. However at the same token, it is not hard to understand the company’s motive behind this move. You only have to look at how many of the Android manufacturers (namely Samsung) have deviated far, far, far away from Google’s vision of what Android should be. So the new requirement may simply be intended to ensure there’s no confusion among smartphone buyers.

Samsung didn’t mention the word “Android” once during its Galaxy S5 keynote, however it arguably doesn’t have to acknowledge Google’s OS when the word “Android” is front and centre as soon as you power your device up.

It will be interesting to see what Google officially state about this speculated mandate and we will be keeping an eye out for any further developments regarding this matter from Google or Android manufacturers alike.