I wouldn't call it brilliant. Its just a way to beat the OEMs when google realized the OEMs were killing android. Android is the OS of the Open Handset Alliance. The idea is everyone would run it, like windows, and just sell different hardware. I don't think anyone was really expecting the massive modifications the OEMs would do and the huge delay in updates. Not to mention handsets being abandoned 6 months after launch while Apple was maintaining updates for years with their phones. OEMs still live in the disposable flip-phone age. Google knows that mentality will never go away. The collusion between carrier and OEM is so rotten, google had to make its own brand to get away from it.

Google freaked out a bit and turned its vanity Nexus brand into a proper consumer brand. Remember, Nexus was the "developer's phone" originally. The situation with tablets was even worse. Outside of the Xoom and the Transformer, the tablet quality was terrible and just couldn't compete with ipad. Nexus branding is an admission that you can't rely on OEMs anymore. Google can't be Microsoft. It needs to be Apple. Hardware and vendor relationships can't just be passed off to a couple Korean and Japanese firms. You need to do this in-house if you want to compete.