Nexus naming conundrum: Nexus 4, 5, 6....umm 7?

**saintforlife** · 03-16-2013, 04:34 PM

How is the naming convention going to work for the Nexus phones in the future? In my opinion Google painted itself into a corner by naming their last set of devices Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 in line with the display size. You can't possibly name the next Nexus phone 5 even if it has a 5" display because where will you go after 5 and 6? The Nexus 7 moniker is already taken by their tablet.

Any thoughts on how Google might resolve this naming conundrum among the Nexus family of devices going forward? Where does the phone end and tablet begin?

**Stan Edom** · 03-16-2013, 04:47 PM

Deleted

**tr-1** · 03-16-2013, 04:51 PM

It works for BMW/MB, why can't it work for phones?
In any case, I'm pretty sure Google thought of this in advance

**saintforlife** · 03-16-2013, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by tr-1

It works for BMW/MB, why can't it work for phones?
In any case, I'm pretty sure Google thought of this in advance

It works for BMW/MB/Audi because every new model that comes out is still called a 3-series, C-Class or A4 (or 5-series, E-Class or A6 or whatever the case maybe). The name never changes even if there are engine upgrades and other improvements from one year to the next.

But with the Nexus, people have already anointed this year's model the Nexus 5. If you follow that trend the next years phone will be Nexus 6. But the year after that you can't call it Nexus 7 because that name is already taken by last year's tablet.

**tr-1** · 03-17-2013, 08:04 PM

I believe people call for Nexus 5 because it'll have a 5" screen.... at least that's what I'm thinking. So that's what I brought up cars.

**jdevenberg** · 03-20-2013, 09:46 AM

I personally wish we could stop with all the numbers at the end of the name of a phone. Lets do what computers (and the iPad now) do. Stick with one name. Macbook. MacBook Pro. Throw a number at the end for screen size if you want. HP Envy 14. Next year, keep the name the same and just put the year in paranteses next to it so you can continue to sell the old model too. So you will have a Galaxy S (2012) sitting next to a Galaxy S (2013). The phones look different, have different listed specs, you'll never end up with a Galaxy S 13 or iPhone 22, and you avoid awkward names like the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4g and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. You wouldn't have the One X being older and less good than the One. you'd have the One (2012) and the One (2013).

**Dr0me** · 03-20-2013, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by jdevenberg

I personally wish we could stop with all the numbers at the end of the name of a phone. Lets do what computers (and the iPad now) do. Stick with one name. Macbook. MacBook Pro. Throw a number at the end for screen size if you want. HP Envy 14. Next year, keep the name the same and just put the year in paranteses next to it so you can continue to sell the old model too. So you will have a Galaxy S (2012) sitting next to a Galaxy S (2013). The phones look different, have different listed specs, you'll never end up with a Galaxy S 13 or iPhone 22, and you avoid awkward names like the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4g and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. You wouldn't have the One X being older and less good than the One. you'd have the One (2012) and the One (2013).

while i agree, this only makes sense if you have an established brand. The iphone and ipad have this and i think the galaxy s line now do as well. But there is no way in hell HTC or Sony would simply add or remove some letters to their failing brand name for the next iteration of the phone if they wanted the market to notice it. Oh wait...

**jdevenberg** · 03-20-2013, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by Dr0me

while i agree, this only makes sense if you have an established brand. The iphone and ipad have this and i think the galaxy s line now do as well. But there is no way in hell HTC or Sony would simply add or remove some letters to their failing brand name for the next iteration of the phone if they wanted the market to notice it. Oh wait...

Its sort of a chicken and egg thing though. Maybe if they had stuck with one name (as Samsung has mostly done with Galaxy S), maybe they wouldn't be in the situation they are in now. It is much more effective to market one or two phones than to try and market 6 or 8. With one or two phones, the same marketing budget gets you much more bang for your buck because it doesn't need to be devided. This would also have built brand awareness. For example, in the early days of Android, the HTC Hero was one of the more popular phones world wide and had a reasonable good reputation. HTC didn't stick with that name, they switched to Desire, among others. If they were still using the Hero or Desire name, they would have been marketing the same name for 3 to 4 years now, and people would know and (likely) trust that name. People don't want to figure out the difference between an XV, VX, X, X+, XS, and whatever other confusing names they used. Now if they had the Desire (2012) as an entry/mid-range phone and an Incredible (2012) as the high end, they would have had several years of marketing and a trusted name bolstering them.

Plus if they had stuck with those two brand names, think of the marketing. Incredible. Desire. HTC. The names play so well together you could EASILY market them both in one commercial.