[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] zephiK:
When did I ever say my opinion was considered a fact? I never did. Google made the Galaxy Nexus as a sequel to the Nexus S. It is a flagship device. If Google really wanted their device to suceed, then they would of done MUCH MORE advertising and competiting against its main competitor, the iPhone. The Galaxy Nexus is not highly advertised whatsoever in the U.S. It's main carrier in the U.S. is Verizon, it would rather advertise their Droid phones.

If Google wants the Nexus series to really stand out and show the "everyday person" the stock Android experience then they would have to reach out to those people with advertisements on their own part. Not rely on Samsung and/or Verizon to do advertising for them.

Anything in life can be buyable as long as they have the money for it. Like I said before, selling something in stores is NOT THE SAME as having a successful launch and making high volumes of sales. The Galaxy Nexus doesn't make high volume of sales when compared to a Galaxy S II. Why? Samsung highly promotes the Galaxy S series including the Galaxy Note.

When you ask these "everyday people" what they think Android is. They'll probably think of TouchWiz or any other company's skin of Android not native Android.

I never said that Galaxy Nexus isn't advertised on TV, I know it is. I just said that the number of ads for Galaxy Nexus in the U.S. isn't the same amount of effort being made by the company because every body else is advertising their carrier's "flagship" device.

AT&T: iPhone / that new Nokia Lumia phone / Galaxy S2

Sprint: Samsung Epic Touch 4G

Verizon: Droid RAZR MAXX

.. this is the same as for what Motorola/Samsung/Sony advertises. If Google really wanted the Nexus series to be the #1 customer preferred brand then they would have to do advertising on their own part for the "general public." Yes, it makes sales, but not enough to be considered a "known brand name."

If Google really wanted the Nexus series to stand out then why would they make a exclusivity offer with Verizon? for money? if anything this LIMITATES the spread of Nexus devices. Where's the Galaxy Nexus for T-Mobile, AT&T, MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular? that's right. We have to buy it from the "grey market." Samsung launched Galaxy S I & Galaxy S II on all four major carriers (including U.S. cellular etc etc so thats more than 4). So Samsung/Google certainly has the power to release all four phones simultaneously.

If Google wanted to made the Galaxy Nexus truly be a consumer based device where its a KNOWN brand name with lots of sales then they would of done the same scenario as Samsung with making it available on all four major carriers. Idealistically speaking, this would be great. But it is not possible, why?

1) Carriers want exclusive features. This is why Galaxy S II took so long because each carrier wanted their own model with special things to advertise the phone such as: bloatware apps, physical hardware changes (Galaxy S II T-Mobile... Snapdragon instead of Exynos).

2) OTA will be delayed heavily, carriers will want to approve of what Google did before pushing out the OTA.

I can go on and on about this. But the Nexus line firmly believes in removing the carrier's power to tell what customers can and can't do. This is why the Nexus One launched on their website -- it removed the "middle man" pretty much. This way, Google can push out updates to Nexus users without having approval from the carriers. Carriers want a say in what the phone will have before launching it on their network.

Sure, Verizon has Galaxy Nexus. But there was a debate that "Galaxy Nexus" is not really a "Nexus" device anymore (hence.. yakju, yakjuxw, etc). Verizon needs to approve of the 4.0.4 OTA. This is why it's not out on Verizon, possibly even skipping onto the next biggest thing at 4.0.5.

This is ALL of my own opinion. You don't have to believe me but I'm sticking to the originated plan for Nexus devices when they first came out. And that plan is that Google wants to update their phone as they please without carrier approval. That is why I don't consider Galaxy Nexus (LTE) to be a nexus device.

Also take a look here,

http://code.google.com/android/nexus/images.html

Factory Images "mysid" for Galaxy Nexus "toro" (CDMA/LTE) (archived, for reference only) meaning Google won't release factory images for "toro" anymore.