Not many Nexus One phones have been sold and there’s talk of double jeopardy termination fees. Two weeks ago this phone was ready for coronation as the much awaited “iPhone killer.” Now there’s nary a mention of the phone in the news.

What happened?

Well news there is: NexusOne drops $100 in price. Here

Reminds you of the iPhone? May be, but three years late and at a different level.

Its not the phone’s fault. From all accounts its a good device, although not at all revolutionary.

First, its the tech blogs/press fault.  For years they have been salivating over a mythical “Google Phone” , wishing for a worthy competitor to the iPhone to keep the mobile gadget space interesting. 

But now its also Google’s fault.  For awhile Google ignored the hype of the “Google Phone”, and kept to their knitting of improving the Android OS and leaving the marketing to the manufacturers/sellers and their telco partners.  But sometime recently Google started to get sucked in to the hype.  They made the mistake of hosting a press event as if they were launching something newsworthy.  Instead, all they really launched was a me-too phone and a URL to sell it from.  Even Engadget, a prime culprit of fanning the Google Phone hype, famously called the event “Incredibly incredibly boring”. 

Google fell so hard for the hype that they thought they could sell the phone without a retail presence, that buyers would buy sight unseen.  And apparently they didn’t consider that they’d need a human support center the day they started selling mass market electronics products.

For years Google execs would accurately state that the Google team are only Internet guys:  they don’t have the skillsets to compete in the physical world. They don’t even have a traditional marketing department because all of their marketing is Internet based. 

But once they bought into the hype, they thought they could compete for the sale of physical products just with their Internet skills. 

They can’t. 

It will be interesting now to see if Google backs off this ill-conceived path and stick to their knitting, or having dived into the pool, they throw all their resources into learning how to swim.  Either way, its going to be ugly for awhile.

And as for the tech blog/press, perhaps the party is over.  Hard to imagine Engadget and their ilk getting all excited the next time Arrington breathlessly reports that the “real Google Phone is coming.”  We’ve now all looked behind the curtain, and saw how unmagical the Google Phone is.  Its the end of the yellow brick road for the Google Phone.  Time for the tech blog/press to hype some other myth.

The Nexus phone has been out for not very long.

The Nexus and the Android OS have yet to make their full impact.

So does the next iteration of the iPhone and its OS .

roni - 17 January 2010 09:26 AM

The Nexus phone has been out for not very long.

The Nexus and the Android OS have yet to make their full impact.

So does the next iteration of the iPhone and its OS .

The marketplace determines the winners.  Compare the Iphone 1st week sales on their third carrier in the UK with a phone which has already been on the market for 6 mo vs the Nexus a brand new design.  Google doesn’t have a chance in the hardware business and branding a phone as the “Google Phone” was a stupid idea which will alienate all their Android adopting partners, opening the door for Microsoft to walk back into the fight with Window Mobile 7.  The great thing is all this confusion benefits Apple the most because they deliver a clear and consistent message to the consumer.

I think Google entered the fray not so much to compete but to clarify the market. But it’s understandable why Moto would be angry and other hardware makers not appreciating the move.

I’d watch Acer. That company could flood the market with cheap Android phones. It would be a highly disruptive move because it would prematurely commoditize the market for Android handsets driving down the return and raising the risk ratio for other handset makers.

DawnTreader - 17 January 2010 02:29 PM

I’d watch Acer. That company could flood the market with cheap Android phones. It would be a highly disruptive move because it would prematurely commoditize the market for Android handsets driving down the return and raising the risk ratio for other handset makers.

Right.  It seems inevitable that Google and Android will end up in the same place as Microsoft and Windows:  lots of manufacturers commoditizing the market, while Apple dominates the premium end of the market, deriving 80% of all profits.

DawnTreader - 17 January 2010 02:29 PM

I think Google entered the fray not so much to compete but to clarify the market. But it’s understandable why Moto would be angry and other hardware makers not appreciating the move.

I’d watch Acer. That company could flood the market with cheap Android phones. It would be a highly disruptive move because it would prematurely commoditize the market for Android handsets driving down the return and raising the risk ratio for other handset makers.

Taking your first paragraph at it’s word, I don’t think Google is in the business nor in the right position to define the market. Apple has apparently done so on its own with only the support of AT&T’s infrastructure, and Google is obviously facing the challenges of selling the product on their own. I am reminded of someone who thinks they have the best singing voice in the world, yet choose to record their songs from home and sells them outside of Wal-Mart. Is it bad? No, but there are better and more established ways to get their porduct out to the market.

I agree with you on Acer… the rest of the cell phone industry will become pirhanas eating their own. Shame though; I am hoping for innovation and competition, and even that has slowed down.

Alan A. - 17 January 2010 03:43 PM

DawnTreader - 17 January 2010 02:29 PM

I think Google entered the fray not so much to compete but to clarify the market. But it’s understandable why Moto would be angry and other hardware makers not appreciating the move.

I’d watch Acer. That company could flood the market with cheap Android phones. It would be a highly disruptive move because it would prematurely commoditize the market for Android handsets driving down the return and raising the risk ratio for other handset makers.

Taking your first paragraph at it’s word, I don’t think Google is in the business nor in the right position to define the market. Apple has apparently done so on its own with only the support of AT&T’s infrastructure, and Google is obviously facing the challenges of selling the product on their own. I am reminded of someone who thinks they have the best singing voice in the world, yet choose to record their songs from home and sells them outside of Wal-Mart. Is it bad? No, but there are better and more established ways to get their porduct out to the market.

I agree with you on Acer… the rest of the cell phone industry will become pirhanas eating their own. Shame though; I am hoping for innovation and competition, and even that has slowed down.

So, do you recommend we totally ignore the international market and the tens of wireless partners there?

This view would be terribly confusing.

roni - 17 January 2010 04:29 PM

Alan A. - 17 January 2010 03:43 PM

DawnTreader - 17 January 2010 02:29 PM

I think Google entered the fray not so much to compete but to clarify the market. But it’s understandable why Moto would be angry and other hardware makers not appreciating the move.

I’d watch Acer. That company could flood the market with cheap Android phones. It would be a highly disruptive move because it would prematurely commoditize the market for Android handsets driving down the return and raising the risk ratio for other handset makers.

Taking your first paragraph at it’s word, I don’t think Google is in the business nor in the right position to define the market. Apple has apparently done so on its own with only the support of AT&T’s infrastructure, and Google is obviously facing the challenges of selling the product on their own. I am reminded of someone who thinks they have the best singing voice in the world, yet choose to record their songs from home and sells them outside of Wal-Mart. Is it bad? No, but there are better and more established ways to get their porduct out to the market.

I agree with you on Acer… the rest of the cell phone industry will become pirhanas eating their own. Shame though; I am hoping for innovation and competition, and even that has slowed down.

So, do you recommend we totally ignore the international market and the tens of wireless partners there?

This view would be terribly confusing.

LOL; great point; the intn’l market defintely plays into the overall method to Apple’s market penetration. However, I am more referring to the work that got the iPhone into the market into the first place. Remember that Apple started in partnering with Cingular (which eventually became AT&T Wireless) to introduce iTunes sync into Moto phones, then introduced the iPhone in the US before globalization of the product officially began.

Not downplaying your point by any means, esp. considering that Google has enough cash to spread their wings out to other carriers.

Jean-Louis Gassée has posted his thoughts on the Nexus One Puzzle in a recent Monday Note

What exactly is Google trying to do? Make Android, their smartphone OS platform the “Windows” of the new era of really personal computers? Or become a dominant handset player to effectively compete with RIM’s Blackberries or Apple’s iPhones? Or, third possibility, dominate the new world of mobile advertising as it does the “old” universe of Web ads for PCs?

In its quest for dominance, Google faces two well-managed and very focused adversaries, RIM, whose Blackberries are the US best-sellers, and Apple. In the coming months, we’ll see which path Google picks to gain the upper hand over those two: the Linux way (today’s strategy of record), the softer or the harder Microsoft.

Don’t like your Nexus One? Well, Google makes it easier/cheaper to return it.

Prodded by the Federal Communications Commission, Google has lowered the fee it charges users who return its Nexus One before their contracts expire. The “equipment recovery fee” is now $150 instead of the initial fee of $350.

Users, however, will still face a separate $200 fee charged by T-Mobile USA, which is offering the handset in the U.S. Users of the Nexus One have flooded user forums with complaints, many of which seem centered on the actual network service itself. The most frequent gripe has been that the service drops from 3G to the slower 2G EDGE service.

derbyjozef - 17 February 2010 11:55 PM

Well I purchase Nexus One just before few days,Simply awesome phone.All latest features.Well All of those functionality and software are work so nicely with android..Please share your thoughts for it.Thank you so much in advance for your support and suggestions…

A Google trader or a goon from Google?