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No Verizon Partnership For Google's Nexus One
starglider29a writes with news that Google and Verizon Wireless have abandoned plans for a partnership that would bring the Nexus One to the carrier's network. "Without a Verizon partnership, Google loses access to the carrier's more than 90 million customers, potentially blocking the phone from gaining more widespread popularity. The breakdown of the deal signals Verizon may view Google as a competitor rather than a partner when it comes to Nexus One sales, which are probably at less than half a million since the phone's January debut, said BGC Partners's Colin Gillis." A Google spokesman said, "We won't be selling a Nexus One with Verizon and this is a reflection of the amazing innovation happening across the open Android ecosystem." In a brief blog post, Google recommends a similar, Android-based phone from HTC for customers who want Verizon service.
Google's idea was great, but it doesn't work in the current carrier-controlled (and I don't mean this in a conspiracy-theorist way) market. The phone is just too expensive up front to compare with carrier-sponsored models that get their price dilluted into your monthly service payments.
Nothing lasts forever but the certainty of change.
The HTC Droid Incredible has a better reputation anyway: its faster, and has HTC's UI enhancements not present on the HTC Nexus One...
So why should Google put its name directly on an inferior phone through Verizon when there is a better HTC phone available soon on Verizon's network?
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What does Google think the Nexus One is it's version of the iPhone? I own a Nexus One and I love the device, but Google is being morons the way they are holding onto it. I should be able to call my carrier for support, especially since Google is absolutely clueless on how to give customer support.
It's one out of dozens of Android phones, each model with it's own features and price ranges.
Steve Jobs has been quaking like a motherfucker (and not in the fun way) if the reports of his Google tantrums are true...
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Let's keep in mind that Google is pushing the Android platform. The Nexus One phones are just a part of that push. Of course they want to sell a lot of Nexus One's (and reap the cash rewards of that success), but they'd rather see a Verizon Moto Droid be sold than an iPhone.
Great!
Basically they are reaffirming that Android is not to become a "hegemony". Google is there to provide only visionary products to push the manufacturers.
The Nexus One is not intended to be a phone for the masses. It was made as a proof of concept for the Android OS. It's purpose is to act as a standard reference point. Remember how over the last 2 years, every phone has been compared with the iPhone? Google's goal is to get everyone to compare new phones to the Nexus one. It is Google's goal for all Android phones to be AT LEAST AS GOOD as the Nexus One--the idea being that, "since the Nexus One is good, so this new Android phone must be great!" After a year, when all the Android phones get to be a little too good, Google will develop the Nexus Two, or whatever they plan to call it, which will act as the new reference point.
So NO. Verizon will not get the Nexus One. The Droid Incredible is better anyway, and Google is getting their OS out in the wild.
You know, there is another CDMA based major network carrier out there for the nexus one. One that doesn't care about using forcible sodomy to invoke tethering charges. One that could really stand to make a splash in the handset market, since the Palm Pre hasn't exactly set the world on fire.
Can we maybe mention Sprint (and their current begging for a jumpstart stock price as the link shows) as a player? Sure, their network is closer to AT&T's that Verizon's in terms of quality (or lack thereof), but they're still alive and kicking. As a former Sprint customer, I can say with certainty that they're network is utter shit. However, if Verizon gets too complacent, they could well be staring down competition from a company that will gladly whore itself out to any handset maker that can give them back even a sliver of market share.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
Apple has (for all intents and purposes) one phone on one carrier.
Some of us live in Europe, you insensitive clod!
All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
...the iPhone is still not on Verizon, nor is it likely to be in the near future. Verizon, like Apple, is all about control. Verizon didn't like that Google wanted too much control over the Nexus One, so they canned it. Verizon initially didn't like Apple's terms for the iPhone, so they nixed that. Their position is unlikely to change anytime soon. Apple is going to want a king's ransom for the iPhone to be on Verizon, and Verizon will simply point to their increasingly successful Android lineup and tell Apple to try again next time.
This is a PR blow for Google, but a small one. Verizon is the leading carrier for Android phones, and the Droid Incridible is quite an impressive flagship device, just as the Motorola Droid was last year. Since HTC manufactures both the Nexus One and the Incredible, the deal failing is no skin off their back. Either way google wins, 'cos more Android smartphones will be sold either way.
I suggest you look at Apples sales numbers. I dboubt that Jobs is shaking at all.
Planning yes. Shaking I doubt it. It is hard to be terrified when your sales are up and you have Billions in the bank.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
It's one out of dozens of Android phones, each model with it's own features and price ranges.
Steve Jobs has been quaking like a motherfucker (and not in the fun way) if the reports of his Google tantrums are true...
Contrary to common misconception here on Slashdot, iPhone far, far outsells *all* Android handsets combined.
One thing that people often bring up is Android's rate of market share growth, as though this growth is sustainable. The first problem is that such growth is, by its very nature, unsustainable. If it were, there would be trillions of Android phones in no time. The other problem is that few people look into the reason for the growth. With Droid, Nexus One, and Incredible, Android handsets are finally at a point where they are at least somewhat respectable competition for the iPhone in the mass market, so it's natural the number of units being sold would increase at a rate faster than before.
The notion that Apple, or Steve Jobs, are "quaking like a motherfucker" is absurd. iPhone is the leader. And even if Android makes it onto more total phones, the market is fractured, which will still leave Apple in the top spot between Android handsets and iPhone for a long time to come. This is the same dynamic that has Apple as the number four (sometimes number five) PC maker in the US, even with only around an 8% market share. Further, Apple is number one in terms of profits. In other words, HP and Dell would rather trade places with Apple, than the other way round.
In the smart phone market, companies like HTC and Motorola may see increased profits due to increased sales of Android phones, but each and every one of them would similarly trade places with Apple in a heartbeat if they could. If Android is bound to knock Apple off its perch, it's going to take many, many years.
So, do explain why you'd think that anyone in Apple's position would be "quaking"?
You've got to be kidding me. Because he sat on the board in the past he's never allowed to build a competing device? What kind of twisted logic is that? Unless you're drinking the cool-aid enough to believe they violated Apple's IP, which from what I can tell is pretty ridiculous. Do you think he used insider information while on the board to design the product? The Android platform came out several years after iPhone, so I'm not seeing a big advantage here. No evil in my book, at least not for this.
The goal, although you can certainly argue that they haven't achieved it to a significant level with their current devices, is to build a mobile device platform that is more open than existing platforms. I care about that to some degree, but what attracts me much more to the Android platform over Apple (will be coming from WM, not iPhone) is the wider array of hardware options (HW KB, etc.), the ability to exchange the battery, and the ability to exchange memory cards. The battery issue is pretty much a deal-breaker for me, and I know you can get external batteries but that's just not a very good option to me. The memory issue is slightly less of a big deal, but right now, I love being able to carry a tiny micro-SD USB adapter on my key chain such that if I want to quickly get music, pictures, PDF's, etc on my phone, I don't need to have a cable.
Plus, when I'm in the airport, I have a huge issue now finding a plug for my laptop. Why? I'd say 75% of the plugs are taken up by teenagers and twenty-somethings (maybe the occasional old fart) charging their iPhones on layovers, etc. I travel with two spare batteries for my phone, and two for my notebook. The reason I need two notebook batteries is that I can't depend on being able to plug it in anymore. (Obligatory "get off my lawn" comment here, if you wish).
You've got to be kidding me. Because he sat on the board in the past he's never allowed to build a competing device?
I wouldn't go that far. However, he was still on the Apple board at the time Google introduced Android.
This ain't rocket surgery.
Joke's on you, I am actually bisexual, and you are actually a bigot, which is no doubt why you post as an AC to begin with.
The difference between 1-2:50 vs 4.1:11.5 is obvious to anybody with two brain cells to rub together, which explains why it escapes your understanding.
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
Huh. iPhone is the leader? I think maybe you should try explaining that to RIM. Their 40+% marketshare might disagree.
Beyond that, you claim the growth is unsustainable. This is a relatively new and evolving market segment. A lot of share has been ceded to Google by MS and Palm, but so far only 'potential' share has come off of RIM and Apple. You think it's impossible for them to lose any ground? They can grow forever but Google can't even keep growing through the end of the year? I sense bias.
Oh and the Apple profits that you vaunt are a direct result of gouging the consumer. Margins like that can't proceed from high quality hardware. Apple sells mediocre crap and an image brand for heinous markup. Only so many people will be duped by that, which is why Apple has a completely flat line of market share in the computing world. They've been at 'around an 8% market share' for years .
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
Switching to a different country is far more difficult than switching to a different U.S. wireless carrier.
That's a good counter argument, but nothing more.
Well, shit, what more should I have been going for, exactly?
Apple is #1, android is gaining. Apple recognises it has competition, its negative statements about the android market reflect that. If you want to characterise that as quaking or not is a semantic argument best left to marketing types.
No, it's not semantics, it's downright false. You're correct that Apple faces competition from Android, but the notion that Steve Jobs is "Steve Jobs has been quaking like a motherfucker" is completely nonsensical, even with granting abundant leeway in the semantics of that phrase.
Now, what will the future hold? I don't know. You don't know. Apple and Google doesn't know.
I was talking about the present, and specifically how you can't simply extrapolate into the future.
If you tried arguing with some one back in 1991 that Apple was going to end up on the brink of bankruptcy in six years and would have to rely on Microsoft to prop them up
Apple was never close to bankruptcy, and MS never "propped them up". Apple had billions in the bank when MS invested $150 million in Apple stock, as part of their agreement for Apple to drop their lawsuit against them. The only part of that agreement that really helped Apple in the short term was MS's agreement to continue selling Office for the Mac for a period of time (5 years?). That agreement was never about MS actually pulling Mac Office, since that was extremely unlikely, but to prevent them from being able to use that as a bargaining chip against Apple (which they had done in the past).
> Of course they want to sell a lot of Nexus One's (and reap the cash rewards of that success)
Actually, I've come to the conclusion that they want Nexus one to fill a specific niche and to set a bar for the quality of what they expect out of other manufacturers, but they are not trying to actually take over the world or to really make a lot of money with it. The whole point of it is to inspire HTC and other vendors to come out with *better* phones than the N1 which sell *more* and therefore raise the quality of the whole ecosystem. If the N1 turns out to be just a minority player because all the other android phones are better then I think Google will consider it a success.
if apple told verizon that, they would tell apple where they can shove their iPhone. Verizon didn't spend all that money on ads attacking the iPhone just to look like a bunch of stooges a few months later.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.