It was fun while it lasted, but the tryst that was Google Play Edition versions of hot flagship devices appears to be over. For now. It would appear that the final device that carried the GPE branding, the HTC One M8, has slipped quietly off into the night to join its brothers in arms.
The HTC One M8 GPE first hit the Play Store back in March of 2014, making it less than one year old before it was pulled. It did get its dose of Lollipop last month in December and I am sure it will continue to get a few updates going forward. While gone from the front page, the direct page link is still accessible. Probably more so to do with the millions of links to the device from around the web. It hasn’t changed much other than the removal of the purchasing options now being replaced with a bold line with ‘no longer available for sale.’
I don’t know if Google and OEM partners will bring the GPE program back or not. There was, at one time, a slight of hand issue where a Galaxy S5 GPE made an appearance in place of the Galaxy S4, but that never transpired into anything. Some could argue the pricing was too high for the devices. Which might be true considering you could get the carrier filled version for $200 or so on contract. However, today we have the Nexus 6 which sits at a comfortable $649. So while the GPE line prices might have seemed like a lot, it hasn’t stopped people from grabbing a N6 at the same price points.
I would have loved to see Google and the OEMs take the GPE program to the carriers. Hell, HTC basically did something similar when they put out a Windows version of the One M8, why not put a pure Android variant on to carrier sales floors too. Maybe that is just wishful thinking on my part. One thing we know for certain, Google likes to experiment. The GPE line could have just been one big market test whether or not it was successful or produced the results they were wanting is yet to be seen. I could come up will sorts of speculation and potential plans moving forward, but I won’t. So long HTC One M8 GPE, it was fun while it lasted.
Source: Google Play Store | HTC One M8 device page via Droid-Life
