Google moves into hardware production with smartphone and other devices - The Washington Post

It's going to be an interesting day in the Android ecosystem; check this YouTube page to catch the event at noon Eastern

"The launch of the Pixel — which was to be heralded this week by prime-time television ads during “Monday Night Football” and “The Voice,” as well as billboards and installations in London, Sydney, Berlin and New York — will test Google’s mettle in a new kind of business. The shift toward hardware also puts the company on a collision course with Apple, Amazon and Facebook, and with partners such as Samsung that have used Google’s free Android software to build their own global smartphone empires. Samsung’s Galaxy phones are the most popular high-end smartphones in the United States after Apple’s iPhone.

Samsung and Google have engaged in a tug of war in recent years, each trying to shake free of its dependence on the other, said people familiar with the situation. Google in recent years has tested the hardware market, with a spotty record, including limited efforts to sell its own line of smartphones, its purchase (and later sale) of Motorola and release of other troubled products such as Google Glass. Samsung, meanwhile, has gone so far as building its own mobile operating system and app marketplace, Tizen, as a hedge against the company’s dependence on Android."

Google moves into hardware production with smartphone and other devices - The Washington Post