Guest post by Google announced today that they’ll stop selling the famed superphone, the Nexus One, directly to the public. Instead, Google will continue to sell the phone through carriers in the US.
Already, the comment thread on Engadget is rife with comments that “The Google Phone is Dead!” without reading the entire article. All Google is doing is reverting to the same selling model that is already familiar to US public. The reason for this move? People want to see what they’re buying.
As an N1 owner, I admit that there was considerable apprehension when I handed my credit card information over to Big G. If I had the experience of handling the device prior to purchase, I would have been far less nervous and much more enthusiastic (although, I’m sure I was sickeningly enthusiastic anyways).
Google will continue to sell the N1 on their web store until the headset attains general availability in retail stores.
Google has agreed to let the carriers stick it to us.
Well, it’s better for American consumers who want to try the device out in a store first, and it doesn’t matter to the consumers (like me) who were hoping to get it subsidized under contract to knock something off the cost. I’d have to get a data plan to make it worthwhile as a phone, anyway, so getting an unlocked model wouldn’t save me much.
Well they already agreed to let them stick it to us when they allowed them to be subsidized and locked to service providers.
Some one should come out with a cheap $20 phone that’s not subsidized and works with all service providers (or at least the ones that are available as a separate service).
You wouldn’t be able to surf the internet but you also wouldn’t have to take crap from service providers.
They exist, though not as cheap as $20 unsubsidized. That’s pretty much impossible considering the tech inside even the most featureless phones. And before you say “but what about prepaid phones?” — they are also subsidized to a degree, in that the purchaser is likely to buy at least a few months’ service.
If I had to guess, I’d say the $25 prepaid phone our daughter takes to sleepovers and other functions away from home, probably cost LG about $50 to build. Considering we kept service for over a year, I’d say it is more than paid for.
Another way to look at it: I have a MetroPCS phone that cost me $80. It was advertised as a great feature-phone, but in reality it’s not quite as nice as the original Motorola Razr, with the exception of a very nice screen. It sucks horribly at everything except looking good, but at the moment I have no real need for a smartphone so it’s enough to get me by. When the time comes, I’ll look into an Android phone on T-Mobile.
Maybe you want to take a look at the European mobile phone market. You can buy unlocked basic models from a number of manufacturers (Samsung, LG, Nokia, etc.) for about 20^a‘not — no strings attached. Get a separat prepaid provider (there are dozens, most of them resellers) and off you go.
You US customers really get shafted.
Even in Asian markets(esp Indian), you get $20 phones very easily. The other point is that they are only phones and not smartphones.
What carriers would those be? Most carriers have either passed outright in favour of their own Android based phones or are unenthusiastic about the Nexus One. Not that I blame them, there’s no real compelling reason for it’s existence anymore. Virtually all it’s unique qualities have found their way into other Android phones.
The Nexus One will be the only top-of-the-line Android phone on T-Mobile US. That’s basically where it’ll do the most good.
Having watched (and been a T-Mobile user) for a while, I’ve come to realize they are not catering to the high end. They have the HTC HD2 and HTC Touch Pro2 now (and a bunch o’ Blackberries) but their new upcoming Android handset (the myTouch 3G Slide) is still using last year’s tech- 320×240 screen, ARM11 instead of Arm-Cortex, low RAM… It’s supposed to come with Android 2.1, but it’s gotta be slow compared to the Droid Incredible or HTC Evo 4G.
It’s a pity, that’s the best looking keyboard I’ve seen on an Android phone, yet (apart from possibly the LG Ally or the fake Samsung Galaxy S Pro)
Availability of updates directly from Google is pretty compelling. When 2.2 is formally announced next week and they start showing off flash demos, the users with carrier locked platforms could be left waiting months for an update and the various forums will be overflowing with angst-filled threads.
The N1 was intended as a baseline feature phone, and in part to kick the manufacturers in the rear to ensure hardware advancement and feature uptake. The latter has worked, to a point. As for the former, as long as Google is using the N1 as a reference platform for their own development, users will have more assurance of update availability compared to other handsets, even if alternative handsets start to exceed the N1 specs.
I didn’t mind paying a premium for a phone that relieves me of relying on a manufacturer for providing, and a carrier of approving, updates. Of course, that also means I’m trusting Google and their limited attention span to follow through, but that’s a different argument.
Boo Hiss.
I’m still wondering when (if, how) we’ll officially get it in Europe. I’m guessing we won’t even have the chance to get it directly, if at all, only via carriers (or eBay). Sad.
Sad ? Really ?
Pause…
Let the US Market doing the beta tests, report the troubles, then…
You can buy a mature product in EU with the bug fixes.
To me, carrier intervention would cause apprehension.
What if you live in a country where buying it direct from Google was your only option?
I thought that Google were doing the right thing by having a phone that would present all that was right about Android.
Then, they added an early termination fee to the early termination fee of the carrier. Even Apple weren’t stupid enough to do that.
Google wanted it their way and people didn’t believe in their abilities enough to give them what they wanted.
For all that they do, they need to find a strategy that works or T-Mobile U.S.A. will be the only carrier.
Google, you should’ve ran with this back in February/March when a bunch of us were waiting for the N1 to drop on Verizon. Instead, you waited until the Droid Incredible was released, and those of us that were waiting on the N1 bought Incredibles instead. Sucks to be you, I guess.