And Google kills the Google branded phone...

[CTrain]

LOL, you guys must have been living in a cave if you think Google accomplished what they were set out to do with the Nexus One.
You mean their intention of developing a line of Google phones and planing to have it for all 4 carriers, revolutionalize the wireless market were were just BS talk ??
- There were already talk of a Nexus 2- FAIL.
- Plan of having the Nexus 1 on all 4 carriers- FAIL
- Wanting to change to way people chose their phones and carriers- FAIL.

Now the Nexus 1 at the time was a great phone.
Noone denied that fact.
Just the way Google marketed it was a failure.

If you believe this is what Google had in mind when they started doing all of this then I have an island I'd like to sell you.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Yeah but for google thats a good thing.

The N1 was just made to kick phone development in a direction that Google wanted, as other (better) phones have been made Google doesnt need (or want) to make any new hardware.

As CTrain posted, the N1 fell far short of it's goals.

Google should have just been content to support the manufacturers.

 

[Medu]

LOL, you guys must have been living in a cave if you think Google accomplished what they were set out to do with the Nexus One.
You mean their intention of developing a line of Google phones and planing to have it for all 4 carriers, revolutionalize the wireless market were were just BS talk ??
- There were already talk of a Nexus 2- FAIL.
- Plan of having the Nexus 1 on all 4 carriers- FAIL
- Wanting to change to way people chose their phones and carriers- FAIL.

Now the Nexus 1 at the time was a great phone.
Noone denied that fact.
Just the way Google marketed it was a failure.

If you believe this is what Google had in mind when they started doing all of this then I have an island I'd like to sell you.

A LOT has changed in the last 6 months, let alone the last 12-18 months- when this phone was been planned. The google objectives that you point to seem to be a little 'fluffy' which makes me believe that they weren't the original objectives. One was probably to help Android get some traction- something it didn't really have 18 months ago, when the phone was first been planned. With over 1m activations a week that is no longer an issue.
Another objective was probably to give a demo platform for Android updates. Android 2.2 has been release, but it only supported by the N1 atm. Without the N1 google would be releasing updates that wouldn't be available in the wild for weeks or months afterwards. If the info about Android 3.0 is correct then this will be much less of an issue going forward.

 

[dguy6789]

It's unfortunate that Google's vision did not materialize. These days, users select a phone they want and then go sign up for the only carrier that supports it, even if the carrier is garbage. Google wanted to make phones(all new phones, not just theirs) independent of carrier, which would make carriers actually have to compete with each other in terms of services and cost to attract users.

 

[foghorn67]

Oh no I know that.. The N1 would've had way better reception worldwide. That's what I'm saying. Put it on sale unlocked in Europe, Asia... BAM. $500 USD? That'll sell like hotcakes... if only HTC didn't also market the Desire there.

Google tried a strategy that just doesn't work in the US.

Oh, missed the original intent of the post. Don't mind me, I'm on crack apparently.

 

[theeedude]

As CTrain posted, the N1 fell far short of it's goals.

Google should have just been content to support the manufacturers.

Which they also did. Not like it was either or, it was a case of nothing ventured nothing lost. They would have had to have a Nexus One internally anyways to test Android platform on before manufacturers released their own phones, and work as a reference design. And they supported HTC in releasing carrier specific phones too, so N1 support work was not just for N1, but leveraged for other HTC products.
Google's main objective is to establish an Android ecosystem to rival Apple's so that they would not be captive to one manufacturer for pushing their bread and butter search and services. I don't think there is much doubt that they succeeded in accomplishing that and then some.

 

[JS80]

IMO the N1 was a "in case no one else adopted Android" plan.

Last 6 months have shown HTC/Moto/Samsung are fully invested in making expensive ass risky hardware...so why not just let them and focus purely on software?

 

[CTrain]

I get what the arguement is but Android was gaining market share rapidly with or without the Nexus One.
Motorola, HTC, LG and Samsung were all making multiple Android phones and the Droids were the hottest phone during Christmas all before the N1 was release.
Had Google told HTC to go ahead and just release the Nexus One under the HTC brand in Jan 2010, would it have made any difference ?? NO. Why would it ??
Heck, HTC probably would have given the N1 to T-mobile as a regular phone and T-mobile would have sold millions of them.
Instead, the general public had no clue what the N1 was and noone was buying them.
Lets face it, Google had this vision of how to sell the N1 and they were going to have this whole line of N1 for the future. All that fail.
Of course Google spinned it around and say " well we're so happy with how Android is going, theres no need for the Nexus 1"
Honestly, how can anyone not see Google failed with the N1.

 

[Raduque]

LOL, you guys must have been living in a cave if you think Google accomplished what they were set out to do with the Nexus One.
You mean their intention of developing a line of Google phones and planing to have it for all 4 carriers, revolutionalize the wireless market were were just BS talk ??
- There were already talk of a Nexus 2- FAIL.
- Plan of having the Nexus 1 on all 4 carriers- FAIL
- Wanting to change to way people chose their phones and carriers- FAIL.

Now the Nexus 1 at the time was a great phone.
Noone denied that fact.
Just the way Google marketed it was a failure.

If you believe this is what Google had in mind when they started doing all of this then I have an island I'd like to sell you.

I've always said what they should've done to really shake up the industry, change the game and all that etc, was to offer it unsubsidized for around $250, for all carriers. An affordable, identical phone and platform, a completely open standard, on all of the big-4 carriers, would turned the cellular industry on it's head.

 

[CTrain]

I've always said what they should've done to really shake up the industry, change the game and all that etc, was to offer it unsubsidized for around $250, for all carriers. An affordable, identical phone and platform, a completely open standard, on all of the big-4 carriers, would turned the cellular industry on it's head.

I totally agree with you there.
When Google announce the N1, rumors were going around that they would make it CHEAP(like around $300) unsubsidized so everyone will get one.
When is was finally announced at $529, I was like WTF are they doing ??
We all thought Google was going to do something big.
No phones in the store, people on family plan couldn't get it for the $179 subsidized price. FAIL FAIL.
To this day, I've actually seen in person the N1 once and thats because I work in a restaurant and one of my guest had one.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I totally agree with you there.
When Google announce the N1, rumors were going around that they would make it CHEAP(like around $300) unsubsidized so everyone will get one.
When is was finally announced at $529, I was like WTF are they doing ??
We all thought Google was going to do something big.
No phones in the store, people on family plan couldn't get it for the $179 subsidized price. FAIL FAIL.
To this day, I've actually seen in person the N1 once and thats because I work in a restaurant and one of my guest had one.

Yeah, they could have changed everything, but instead they just screwed the pooch.

I would have loved to see:

a version on every carrier

a break from the massive mark-up smartphones enjoy

heck, I still think Google should just buy Sprint and kick everyone's ass.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

Are the mark-ups that massive? Honest question. Seems to me they'd be pretty expensive to manufacture.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I've always said what they should've done to really shake up the industry, change the game and all that etc, was to offer it unsubsidized for around $250, for all carriers. An affordable, identical phone and platform, a completely open standard, on all of the big-4 carriers, would turned the cellular industry on it's head.

But that wasn't the plan. Why wouldt ey sell a phone for a loss? It seems like people have no clue what smartphone prices run for.

www.plemix.com
www.mobilecityonline.com

People aren't going to all of a sudden make a laptop and sell it for half the market price. Google wanted to do something different from the typical US industry and that was to go unsubsidized and avoid the carrier. Fact is the model works in the rest of the world somewhat. It just doesn't work given the dynamics of the US market.

It's just like when Dell first entered the PC industry, the one thing they did nice was to let you customize your PC. No one else had that. You bought pre-packaged PCs. They're not going to sell $299 PCs all of a sudden. And E-Machines tried that model. It doesn't work so well. Trying something new is one thing. Selling a product at a ridiculous price and taking a loss is another thing....

 

[theeedude]

I get what the arguement is but Android was gaining market share rapidly with or without the Nexus One.
Motorola, HTC, LG and Samsung were all making multiple Android phones and the Droids were the hottest phone during Christmas all before the N1 was release.
Had Google told HTC to go ahead and just release the Nexus One under the HTC brand in Jan 2010, would it have made any difference ?? NO. Why would it ??
Heck, HTC probably would have given the N1 to T-mobile as a regular phone and T-mobile would have sold millions of them.
Instead, the general public had no clue what the N1 was and noone was buying them.
Lets face it, Google had this vision of how to sell the N1 and they were going to have this whole line of N1 for the future. All that fail.
Of course Google spinned it around and say " well we're so happy with how Android is going, theres no need for the Nexus 1"
Honestly, how can anyone not see Google failed with the N1.

That's like saying you fail with buying car insurance if you don't total your car.

 

[CTrain]

That's like saying you fail with buying car insurance if you don't total your car.

So you're telling me the Nexus One was an insurance if Android fails ??
Please enlighten me.

 

[CTrain]

But that wasn't the plan. Why wouldt ey sell a phone for a loss? It seems like people have no clue what smartphone prices run for.

www.plemix.com
www.mobilecityonline.com

People aren't going to all of a sudden make a laptop and sell it for half the market price. Google wanted to do something different from the typical US industry and that was to go unsubsidized and avoid the carrier. Fact is the model works in the rest of the world somewhat. It just doesn't work given the dynamics of the US market.

It's just like when Dell first entered the PC industry, the one thing they did nice was to let you customize your PC. No one else had that. You bought pre-packaged PCs. They're not going to sell $299 PCs all of a sudden. And E-Machines tried that model. It doesn't work so well. Trying something new is one thing. Selling a product at a ridiculous price and taking a loss is another thing....

We actually do know how much these smartphones cost.
Theres a site that often tear down the phones to calculate the parts.
Most all of the popular phones are under $200 for parts.
The Nexus One was ~$174.(just for parts of course)
http://phandroid.com/2010/01/10/nexus-one-parts-cost-174-15/
Noone expects Google to sell it for a loss but they were hinting that they planned to revolutionize the cell phone market.
I think at $350, I definately would ahve gotten one.

 

[JS80]

So you're telling me the Nexus One was an insurance if Android fails ??
Please enlighten me.

N1 was insurance in case HTC/Samsung/Moto didn't mass produce EVO/EPIC/Droid X. In an alternative universe where the other makers didn't adopt Android, N1 would have been version 1 and I'm sure Google would have tried to copy the Apple model and gone all in the the HW/SW.

But why should they now? HTCSamMo are making great phones.

I guess I would be pretty pissed though if I had paid $529 for the N1 only to have them discontinue it.

 

[theeedude]

So you're telling me the Nexus One was an insurance if Android fails ??
Please enlighten me.

It was insurance in case manufacturers and carriers didn't adopt Android fast enough or the way Google wants it adopted.
Android was always about Google being in control of its own destiny, not making money off the OS or device, but off the cloud services and ads. They could have just stuck to offering Google mobile search and services on the iPhone, but then they would be at the mercy of fickle Apple. Similarly, they wanted to have their own reference implementation of the Android phone out there until they were sure that the Android ecosystem was moving in the direction they wanted it moving in, instead of leaving it up to carriers and manufacturers to hash it out and potentially dilute Google's vision. Now it's fairly obvious that Google is successful, but at the time when Nexus one was conceived it was not a foregone conclusion. Also, Nexus One cost Google almost nothing. They would have had to put in same work supporting HTC's platform anyways. N1 is just an unlocked Google branded variation of what HTC and Google were doing anyways. So they got insurance for their vision for basically no cost. Sounds like a good business move.

 

[CTrain]

Saying the N1 was insurance for Android is quite a bit a stretch.
The N1 was release in Jan 2010.
http://androidandme.com/2009/08/news/android-closing-in-on-blackberry-taking-share-from-iphone/
Look at that article above dated Aug 31 2009. Android was a close 3rd in the US basically with 1 android phone the G1.
And 4 of the top 5 handset makers were realeasing Android phones for all 4 US carriers.
The N1 has little to no consequence on Android success.

 

[theeedude]

Saying the N1 was insurance for Android is quite a bit a stretch.
The N1 was release in Jan 2010.
http://androidandme.com/2009/08/news/android-closing-in-on-blackberry-taking-share-from-iphone/
Look at that article above dated Aug 31 2009. Android was a close 3rd in the US basically with 1 android phone the G1.
And 4 of the top 5 handset makers were realeasing Android phones for all 4 US carriers.
The N1 has little to no consequence on Android success.

From your link, Android was at just 7% last July.
Do you understand how long it takes to get a phone out? It has to go through design, testing, all the FCC approvals, etc. The phone had to have been in the works long before June to be released in January. Even if it ended up being unnecessary, it was cheap insurance to buy considering the importance of Android for Google.
But if you want to convince yourself that Android is some sort of fail for Google, and it makes you happy, that's fine. Happiness is good

 

[CTrain]

From your link, Android was at just 7% last July.
Do you understand how long it takes to get a phone out? It has to go through design, testing, all the FCC approvals, etc. The phone had to have been in the works long before June to be released in January. Even if it ended up being unnecessary, it was cheap insurance to buy considering the importance of Android for Google.
But if you want to convince yourself that Android is some sort of fail for Google, and it makes you happy, that's fine. Happiness is good

Err....where did I say Android was a failure ??
I said the way Google marketed the N1 was a failure.
Did you forget that HTC makes the N1 ? And they produced 2 more phones that was almost idential in the Desire and Incredible.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Google put alot of R&D effort in producing the N1...
And please re-read what I posted. I said Android was already a close 2nd in the US. 12% to 13% for RIM OS.

 

[CTrain]

I love how some of you are spinning it into a "BUT Android was a success".
Noone argue that fact.
From the 4th post of this thread, I simply said the Nexus One was a marketing disaster.
Can you argue that it wasn't a marketing disater ??

 

[vshah]

I guess I would be pretty pissed though if I had paid $529 for the N1 only to have them discontinue it.

i paid $529 for the N1 and i'm not pissed at all. why would I be? i thankfully haven't had any issues with mine, and i'm way ahead of the curve with OS updates thanks to the dev community. well worth it to me. i couldn't care less if it's no longer being sold.

no doubt it would have done better selling straight through carriers though, but then what would be the point. i still dream of the day other's mentioned. same phone, all carriers, <$300 bux. samsung could do it now actually, if they were willing to sell the galaxy s phones for <$300

 

[zoiks]

I love my N1 too. I like the fact that I get frequent updates and it just gets better and better. I recently rooted it and really like some of the roms since now I can use openvpn. Using the Kang version right now.

 

[Pliablemoose]

N1 does not equal Android.

Google has done a lot of things that didn't work out.