Back during Google I/O 2011, Google announced a list of partners that it was working with to “create new guidelines for how quickly devices will get updated after new Android platform releases inch. Similarly, they wanted to ensure that devices are guaranteed a reasonable update lifespan so that they wouldn’t stop receiving updates 6 months or so after release.

So far Google and the founding partners, which includes a number of carriers and device manufacturers, have agreed stated that future devices will receive Android updates for 18 months after their launch. When this program will begin (and which devices will abide by it) has not yet been announced.

When it does launch, Google needs to be smart and really market it. Promising updates for 18 months after a device is launched is great for consumers, but it means nothing if consumers don’t know which device manufacturers or carriers are part of the program at the time of purchase

Google should come up with a simple name and an eye-catching logo that they can hand out to the partners of the program and those partners can slap it on the boxes of their products to show users that the phone will receive guaranteed updates for 18 months.

Something like the ‘Google Update Guarantee’ (GUG for short!), or ‘Android Update Alliance’, or even just ‘Update Guarantee’ with a cool logo would work wonders for consumers.

Imagine someone walking into a Best Buy or RadioShack and holding two phone boxes in their hands. Both are nearly identical in their specs, but only one has the Update Guarantee. The decision for the consumer is simple because one glance at the box tells them that only one of those phones is guaranteed to be updated for a reasonable amount of time.

Better yet, crowd-source the logo by starting a competition to design the logo and offer a cool prize. Let people online vote on which one they like best. Not only will this drum up interest and spread the word about the guarantee on the web, but it’ll also let the people, who will actually be purchasing the devices with the guarantee, feel like they got to be part of the selection process and this will make them feel even more connected to the logo and the devices that use it (which is good for the partners of the program).

Not only does this help the consumer in the store, but the same thing would apply online. The same way that I frequently filter Amazon product searches by what is available to be shipped with Amazon Prime, customers may begin filtering their Android phone/tablet searches to see only those with the Update Guarantee.

By allowing only partners on the list access to the logo for the program, other companies are going to want to jump on board to get access so that they too can market their products with the appealing guarantee logo. Every partner that joins the program means an overall increase in the quality of the Android-device market because it means more devices will be updated to the latest version of Android for a longer period of time.

I really hope Google takes a proactive approach similar to what I’ve suggested. Such a guarantee adds confidence to a customers purchase, which is currently something that’s completely absent from current smartphone purchases. Not even Apple has a guarantee in place for how long they’ll update a given iOS device.