Next week the talk of the Android world is likely to be Samsung’s new Galaxy S III, but this week kicked off with a $ 399 Galaxy Nexus. The GSM handset — which works on both T-Mobile’s and AT&T’s voice and data networks — is now available directly from Google. The company added a new Devices tab to the Google Play website where people can purchase the Android 4.0 smartphone.

Google attempted direct smartphone sales in January of 2010 with its Nexus One phone, but the effort wasn’t a raging success in the U.S. where carriers have the upper hand. The operators pay a large portion of the device cost directly to the handset maker and then make up the difference (and more) in lengthy voice and data plan contracts. Google has no wireless service to offer, so at that time, the $ 529 Nexus One was typically bought by geeks such as myself. (I still have the phone and I certainly got my money’s worth out of it.)

At $ 399, the Galaxy Nexus might gain a little more traction with mainstream consumers, but it’s likely that the same geeks interested in the prior model are the bigger audience. The phone appeals because of it’s dual-network capability, pure Android 4.0 experience and — perhaps most importantly — isn’t controlled by the carriers. Google will push software updates direct to the GSM Galaxy Nexus, meaning they’ll be sent quicker as there is no carrier testing or customization involved. The phone also includes Google Wallet pre-installed; notable as Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus handset doesn’t support the service.

While folks debate if the Nexus is a good deal at $ 399, another debate is rising: Will Microsoft be successful with its Metro UI? The answer to that question could affect Android device sales in the future. Microsoft is following Apple’s lead with a more consistent user experience between traditional and mobile computing.

Apple is bringing iOS elements and mobile data into Mac OS X while Microsoft is using the Metro UI — first seen on Windows Phone — to Windows 8. That could create a halo-like effect for Windows users who turn to Windows Phone in lieu of Android. Google still has an opportunity to merge systems of its own: ChromeOS is still maturing and Google could work to do some merging between it and Android. I’ll be looking to Google’s I/O developer conference next month to look for clues that might suggest just such a strategy.

Speaking of strategy, Amazon’s seems to be working well when it comes to Android. The Kindle Fire is reportedly outselling all other Android tablets combined. That’s an amazing feat for a device that’s roughly 6 months old.

The data hit this week from ComScore, with Amazon accounting for an estimated 54.4 percent of all Android tablet sales in the U.S. Part of the reason has to be the low $ 199 cost, while another is the lack of a monthly data plan needed, since the Kindle Fire is a Wi-Fi only device. And the range of easy-to-access content is a another likely factor. It may not be a pure tablet to some, but for many, the Kindle Fire is the only Android tablet they need.

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AT&T’s shareholders today didn’t require the telecommunications giant to implement network neutrality on its wireline and wireless networks. The proposal lost with a mere 5.9 percent of the vote. But based on an interview I had two weeks ago with Jonas Kron, Vice President of Trillium Asset Management, the goal of the shareholder proposal was to get 3 percent of the vote so they could bring it back next year. So in that case, Trillium and other shareholders in favor of the proposal (including Mike D of the Beastie Boys) won.

In fact Kron told me that anything over 5 percent would be a substantial victory because it means that the company would have to pay attention to the issue.

Regardless of change coming from this particular vote, in our talk Kron offered me something far more interesting, an economic justification for broadband companies to embrace network neutrality. So despite Wall Street analysts who argue that such rules would turn the nation’s largest wireline and wireless phone companies into commodity utilities with the profit margins to match, Kron explains why American’s capitalists should be fine with network neutrality.

“Most people are diversified investors and interested in broad-based economic growth. And just because it’s good for a single company doesn’t mean it’s good for the market,” Kron explained when I asked about the potential damage to AT&T’s or Verizon’s profit margins. “The concept of negative externalities comes into play. Just like pollution that isn’t priced in will add costs in the other parts of the market, a free and open Internet is responsible for significant value, and we don’t want to interfere with that. And wireless is where so much activity is moving to — that’s where a lot of money is being made for the market, and that’s why we wanted to make wireless net neutrality a specific issue.”

Now Trillium is in the small class of socially conscious investment firms that take perhaps a more holistic view of their asset management strategy, but compared to returns for the large-cap funds that invest in AT&T and other wireless company, it doesn’t pay a penalty for its social stance. It’s returns in the 1-3-year time frame are slightly lower than the returns from the S&P when you include its management fee, and slightly above the S&P in the 5-to-10 year time frame. Trillium has $ 1 billion in funds, which means it’s not a small player either.

And given how Comcast appears to be formulating an end-run around wireline network neutrality with its decision to let Xbox streaming of Comcast network traffic sneak onto the network without affecting a user’s data cap, we’re still not done trying to protect the rights of services running on all broadband networks. So on both wireline and wireless networks, network neutrality is still very much a concept we need to pay attention to.

Similar proposals regarding wireless network neutrality are scheduled for votes at the upcoming annual meetings of Verizon Communications on May 3 and Sprint Nextel Corporationon May 15.

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