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Google Stops Selling Its Own Phone
Dave Knott notes that Google has announced it will close its online cell phone store and no longer sell the Nexus One smartphone directly to consumers. "While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not," wrote Andy Rubin, a Google vice president of engineering, on the official company blog. "It's remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it's clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from." From the Globe and Mail article: "At least one aspect of Google's attempt to disrupt the world of mobile communications — selling phones directly to customers — has failed. ... [T]he decision to design and sell the Nexus One was perhaps more potentially disruptive for carriers. ... Google plans to continue marketing the Nexus One through 'existing retail channels, essentially partnering with carriers around the world. The Nexus One web store, meanwhile, will essentially become a marketing portal 'to showcase a variety of Android phones available globally.'"
Qualcomm, Motorola, and others learned this for them already. If you've got something amazing to provide to the cell phone value stream, keep away from competing with those you are helping.
I give them credit for trying to have their cake and eat it too... but as we all know, the cake is a lie.
But after looking at buying a Nexus One there were 2 primary options. Bend over and pay full price or bend over to T-Mobile and pay their price and lock in. And they only had two plans that were complete shit. I support as many new phones as possible but this wasn't priced well and the plan options they did offer just plain sucked.
Hold up, wait a minute, let me put some pimpin in it
They've got the majority of America buying into the subsidy/contract system. The advantages of dropping $500 upfront on a phone aren't obvious to the layman phone buyer. Not when they get get an iPhone for $199 (despite the savings over time of going off contract).
People here know the advantages (and a few here probably bought the N1 from Google) but I think that mindset is going to be hard to change without a drastic drop in the initial cost of the hardware.
Google has announced that it will close its online cell phone store and no longer sell the Nexus One smart phone directly to consumers.
This was not called execution. It was called retirement.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
Bosh. I paid for my Nexus One outright, and I probably wouldn't have even looked at it if I had to stop in at one of the phone stores. Those places are sleazy.
T-Mobile has month-by-month rates. A little more pricy, sure, but you are able to switch carriers at any time. Works for me.
It's unfortunate that Google is throwing in the towel so quickly. They're spending fortunes on ads, right now, they must have the money to spare. I don't think they've considered what they're doing.
But I do love my Android phone. It could stand minor hardware tweaking. The software resources are phenomenal.
The cellphone vendors will also be far happier to use Android if Google is not competing with them.
Yes, this is the real reason that Google is stopping sales. The carriers want to feel important. People will still end up using the phone on T-Mobile most of the time, so this will affect few people to any significant degree.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I'm not sure which revisionist idiot informed the general OSS/Google fanboy world that selling unlocked phones directly to consumers was somehow innovating. Nokia has been doing this for years. I bought my last Nokia phone, the E70, well before even the iPhone was out directly via Nokia's website. You can still buy many Nokia products this way, including the venerable N900.
The prices may not always be the very best you can find but at least they are a trusted source.
I read the script, and I think it would help my character's motivation if he was on fire. -Bender
Compared to the Droid, the sales weren't all that great and they do raise the excellent point that many people want to be able to hold it before they commit to the purchase. Also, there are several other Android phones (e.g. Droid Incredible) that have been described as better than the Nexus One and available on a wider range of carriers. By the end of the summer, the Nexus One won't be state of the art as far as Android phones go so there's no real reason for them to continue selling it.
I imagine that they're working on a Nexus Two, so they'll eventually replace it with something else. Hopefully they get the customer service bugs worked out next time around, as that may be one of the potential reasons the device didn't sell as well as I expected it to sell.
Although you could say the same about the iPhone and Apple, since FoxConn manufactures that (and lots of other companies make the various components).
Google had significant design and engineering input into Nexxus One -- probably not as much as Apple has over iPhone, but still. Many if not most American tech companies outsource their manufacturing. If Google determines the specs and puts its brand on Nexxus One, in many senses that makes it "it's own" phone.
"Brick and Mortar" stores aren't going anywhere anytime soon. While there are many people who make almost all their purchases from online retailers, I find that most people would rather go to a B&M store for a purchase.
All of my friends and relatives make their purchases at B&M stores because they don't have to wait or pay for shipping, they can physically "preview" their purchase, they can pay in cash instead of a paying with a credit/debit card, and it's far easier to make a return on an item. The only reason I've known them to make an online purchase is for a SIGNIFICANT discount (books, hardware, etc.), though, many B&M stores have become very competitive with online retailers.
NOTE: I am referring to the purchase of physical items in my comment. Most of my friends make software purchases online (i.e. Steam).
While I it may be that their method of sale/distribution did not succeeded, the phone itself, and Android as an OS, is great. I've never owned a better phone.
There has been a lot of whining and griefing about the phone itself. I have no idea WTF all the complaints are about. I get great data and voice coverage (I hear TMobile isn't the best, but it satisfies me), and the only bug I've ever had is that the ringer sound will stop working about once a month -- I have to reboot.
I've never seen a nexus in the wild.
It's not limited to Nexus One. I haven't seen a Maemo/MeeGo phone in the wild either. Today, to prove a point, I walked into three different local stores and asked to try a Nokia N900 phone. None of them had one. Is this commonplace for geek-friendly phones?
Wait, what savings do you get over time from going off contract?
Unlike AT&T, T-Mobile has a discount if you buy your phone up front.
You can still buy many Nokia products this way, including the venerable N900.
But where can I try an N900? I walked into three different stores today and none of them had one. Given the price of return shipping and restocking fees, I prefer to try the display, keypad/touch screen, and hand feel of a phone before I spend over $500 for one.
This is really too bad. Up here in Canada, we're stuck with disgusting 3 year contracts (the 2 year ones have hardly any discount) with egregious profiteering (world's highest text msg prices for instance) and a culture of neglect after you've bought a phone from our oligopoly of carriers. The N1, expensive as it was, really was the best option for a good, unlocked, and free (as in freedom) smartphone. Any Android you get up here will assuredly be abandoned by the carriers - after all, new firmware means less sales according to the carrier. It really meant that the only consistently upgrade friendly Android phone was the N1.
Where I think Google failed was in not offering more choice like a certain fruit-labelled, obsessed-with-lock-in software maker. After all ~$500 for a phone, cheap though it may be over the long run, is a psychologically difficult barrier to overcome. I do believe, however, that having a few options that were cheaper (with appropriately pared down features) could have made it a more profitable venture. Sadly, I would have bought an N1 in the near future, but now it looks like I'll be sticking with my dumbphone.
Furthermore, trusting people to make buying decisions on long term fiscal calculations (without any assistance), might have been ambitious in retrospect. Maybe putting a cost calculator on the N1 website might have helped?
As a high-profile unlocked phone, the Nexus One has seemed to have had an effect on carriers here in Canada.
Bell, Telus and Rogers have all been friendly about just putting a SIM card into the Nexus One and using it. I don't know if it's been an official policy at these carriers or not, but previously getting an unlocked phone onto anything but prepaid has been a pain, I was often met with resistance at the stores ("Oh no, you can't do that").
Now, even with other unlocked phones, the stores have been a lot more receptive about getting you on their network.
It may not have sold in spectacular numbers and many consumers have no clue it exists, but the reps in the stores know this phone very well.
Well, maybe if most people would not have gotten the "not available in your country or region", most people would have ordered online. I wanted one, and I am happy I did not: I tried a colleague's Nexus one, and found to phone to be ... well .. not satisfactory...
While Android is a cool thing, after an iPhone all HTC phones feel like cheap plasticky toys. And do not even get me started on the touch screen.
I am in the search for a 850Mhz HSDPA Android phone for some time and haven't found a unit that even remotely challenges the iPhone's quality. Maybe when idroidproject advances a little I can have my 2G running Android....
yes, this was the phone Google wanted HTC to make and most likely the phone they wanted others to make. Before the N1, all the other Android phones were underpowered ~600MHz ARM9 based instead of using any of the other ARM Cortex a8 chips which were available. It seemed to me that Google wanted to up the ante for what it meant to be an Android phone and from the number of kick butt Android phones on the market, the N1 did was it would appear it was supposed to do.
Apple will have to leapfrog what the N1 and others put out there and it's all good. It would have been nice if customers took to purchasing the N1 off contract to put pressure on the carriers to provide more options but we can't have it all at once.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
With T-mobile you can get a cheaper plan if you buy the phone outright, but your point holds true with the AT&T version of the phone I think.
If you buy the phone outright, you pay $50/month, if you buy it subsidized with a 2 year contract it's $80/month.
$80*24 = $1920 Buy phone outright: $529 Buy subsidized phone: $179 So if you spend $350 more now, you save $1920 later for a net gain of $1570.
It's the dirty little secret of the wireless industry. They are subsidizing the phone by loaning you $350 for which you you pay them back over 5 times as much over 2 years. It's usury, and it should be illegal.
meep
Whoops math fail. Forgot to account for the difference. It should read 30*24 = 720, so you are paying $350 up front for $720 in savings.
meep
Actually, due to the reduced monthly fee with T-Mobile if you bought the phone unlocked, after 2 years savings the phone would cost around $55 - so about $145 LESS than if you bought the phone subsidized by a 2-year contract. The real reason for the "failure" you speak of is that the overwhelming majority of Americans suck at math.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
They are kind of new, they came along with all of the "Project Dark" talk that was going around back in October. Even More Plus plans, no contract, and $20 cheaper than the corresponding standard Even More contract plans.
Have you actually called tmobile lately to get the rates, plans you mention? I couldn't find a way to downgrade then either online, or via customer service operator.
I just switched from a contract plan to a contract-free plan a few days ago. Unfortunately there was an error on the my.t-mobile site so I had to call them, but it still only took about 10 minutes to get everything switched over.