With thepending closureof Google ’s Nexus One online storage , a smartphone revolution is in shred . Google still has a killer product in Android , but the Nexus One ’s online - only business model , meant to interrupt the way phones are typically sell , is a failure .
Google need the Nexus One in more retail stores around the world , which means it ’ll have to make nice with wireless carriers . So what if Google was selling unsubsidized telephone set as an alternative to two - year newsboy contracts ? The ideadidn’t take off , so no harm , no foul . Once Google is satisfied with the Nexus One ’s retail presence , it ’ll shutter the on-line store and alternatively use theGoogle Phone Web siteas a vitrine for all kinds of Android phone .
How did it end this means ? It ’s easy to fault the Web store itself±—people prefer to try before they buy , Google say — but the full account is more complicated than that .
Before the Nexus One launched , analysts wondered if Google would shock the wireless world bysubsidizing smartphones on its own . Instead of owing two years to a specific carrier , your debt would be to Google and its advertising . But when Google denote a $ 529 unsubsidized monetary value for the Nexus One , or $ 179 with a two - year T - Mobile contract , it was business as usual .
Still , champions of the Nexus One saidthe Web store made all the difference . By giving client the alternative of a subsidized phone on contract with T - Mobile or an unsubsidized phone that could be used for any length , or swapped for AT&T ’s 2 G mesh , Google was slowly taking mastery from the carriers . That was the idea , at least . Unfortunately , the Nexus Onegot off to a rocky starting time . Google was n’t ready to cope with customer service ailment , and it was actually potential to paya higher early termination feethan the phone ’s unsubsidized price .
But what really killed the Nexus One ’s Web store was Android itself . Those who called the Nexus Onean evolutionary productwere spot - on , as the earpiece has already been upstaged by the Droid Incredible , and soon theHTC Evo 4G. Verizon Wireless and Sprintstoppeditchingto expect the Nexus One once they had their own cutting - edge Android phone .
And as Google learned , support from wireless companies is really important if you require to sell phones . Verizon’sadvertising prowessthrust Droid into the spotlight , and the carrier wave ’s two - for - one deals propelled Android to its first quarterly sales victory over the iPhone .
Let me be clear that I do n’t suppose the Nexus One itself is a unsuccessful person . As my co-worker Jeff Bertoluccipointed out , the Nexus One succeed as a sort of demonstration social unit , a phone that show app developer what Android is capable of . It also allows Google to show off its own mobile product in screenshots and live demonstrations on Google - branded hardware , so the company need n’t publicly show favour to HTC , Motorola or Samsung .
As a phone , the Nexus One was n’t a total loss , but as a way of life to deepen our purchasing habit for smartphones , it ’s a mixed-up cause .
