
At the Google I/O 2014 conference this week, Google's head of engineering at Android and the Nexus program, Dave Burke, clarified that Nexus was here to stay and would not be replaced by Android Silver. For a few weeks before the event we heard several rumors suggesting that Android Silver would kill off the Nexus product line, but it seems those rumors were unfounded (at least for now). Burke had this to say,
"People just get excited by concepts and forget why we do things. We are still invested in Nexus."
Burke added,
"Android Silver is not something that we are commenting on right now. People have been commenting about Nexus because there is something else and they think that means the end of Nexus. That is the totally wrong conclusion to make.
He also elaborated on the processes involved in developing with the open nature of Android. He shared that one team works on Android, while the other works in tandem on the Nexus hardware, but they ultimately go hand in hand,
When we are working, there are sort of two outputs. We’re building a Nexus device and we’re building the open source code. There is no way you can build the open source code without the phone or tablet or whatever you are building. You have to live and breathe the code you are developing.
You can’t build a platform in the abstract, you have to build a device (or devices). So, I don’t think can can or will ever go away. And then, I think Nexus is also interesting in that it is a way of us explaining how we think Android should run. It is a statement, almost a statement of purity in some respects. I don’t see why we would ever turn away from that, it wouldn’t make sense.
Whew! It's good to know Google is still committed to the Nexus line!
Source: ReadWrite.com