[bduerst]

No way is it simple - there are over a dozen OEMs each competing and advertising their Android phones with the co-branded messaging that they see fit.

The whole strategy behind the Pixel phone was to change the perception of the android brand as a cheap, bloatware'd device for tech dudes. Releasing a recognizable, high quality wearable line fits in with that strategy.

[criddell]

It is simple. Clone Apple's Messages and ship it on Pixel phones. Make it a download so that people can use it with their Google account on other phones.

The hard part for Google is delivering on end-to-end encryption for messages that don't leave their messaging system (similar to Apple's blue bubbles). They really, really want to see what people are saying to each other.