Google to Sell Multiple Nexus Devices with Android 5.0?

It appears that Google is planning to open up a Nexus program wherein the company will supply Nexus devices made by an assortment of manufacturers through its Google Play Store.

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Google is apparently going to partner with up to five OEMs to supply five Pure Google devices for consumers to purchase directly from Google.

Those devices will evidently will then be sold unlocked, with vanilla Android, without carrier bloatware, to consumers in Europe, Asia and yes, even the United States.

Google is said to be aiming to get these devices ready for launch around the time that Android 5.0 Jelly Bean, the next version of Android, rolls out to the public. It’s currently unknown when the new software will be rolling out exactly, but it’s safe to assume that it will be during either the fall or winter months of 2012, possibly as soon as Thanksgiving.

The sources who informed the WSJ of the news say that this will give Google “more control over the apps that run on smartphones and tablets powered by Android, thus reducing the influence of wireless carriers over such devices.”

This news couldn’t come at a more volatile time for Android. It has been five months since one of its current Nexus phones, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, has received an update from Verizon. An Android engineer seemed to indicate that it was Verizon’s fault that the device had not yet see any software roll out.

Read: Wait for Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0.4 Update Gets More Bizarre.

In addition, many recent Android devices have been waiting for the upgrade to the current version of Android, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Phones like the Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Galaxy Note and Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX are still running Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The report also comes a short time after Google starting selling its Samsung Galaxy Nexus directly, something it had not done since the introduction of the Nexus One, its original Nexus smartphone.

It now seems that that might have just been the start of something much bigger.

It’s unclear whether or not Google will formally announce its plans at its Google I/O conference at the end of June but it would seem like a fairly appropriate place to do so.