Google to stop selling the Nexus One online....

[CTrain]

I was saying from the get go that it was the dumbest strategy ever....
Obviously Google didn't want to sell many of the N1 to begin with.
This wasn't the Pre with Palm.
Google had a great phone(at the time).
If they really wanted to penetrate the cell phone market, they could have sold the N1 for little above cost and sell tons of them.
Getting market share should have been primary and profit should have been secondary as Google has an ungodly amount of money.
-Remember there was a big buzz with the N1.
So what did they do ??
- Partner up with the 4th largest carrier in the US.
- Decided to sell the subsidized price($180) only with single plan. No family plan.
- Their unsubsidized price was too high $550. (Like if you wanted to get on family or more plus plans)
- The biggest blunder was to sell the phone sight unseen.
While all of us geeks know what the N1 was, people that would visit the stores have no clue.
Just look at the HD2 and the Incredible. All sold out during the launch.

Epic fail by Google.

 

[bucwylde23]

I thought this might happen as soon as VZW/Sprint dropped the N1 in favor of the Incredible/EVO

 

[SunnyD]

The cell phone hardware market changes far too rapidly right now to hedge your bets on any one hardware platform. Google just needs to stick with Android and the software stack behind it, that's where their money is going to be made anyway.

 

[gsaldivar]

Agreed. I still can't fathom why Google went this route. Competing at the retail level is just so very different from all their other lines of business. I think perhaps they overestimated the mass appeal of their branding, and underestimated the responsiveness of their competition.

 

[JS80]

Google should have partnered with Sprint off the bat. Why they chose t-mobile is wtf. Maybe CDMA is more pain in the ass to develop?

 

[AstroManLuca]

Google should have partnered with Sprint off the bat. Why they chose t-mobile is wtf. Maybe CDMA is more pain in the ass to develop?

OMG man, I like Sprint too but your constant evangelizing is really annoying.

 

[Deeko]

Google should have partnered with Sprint off the bat. Why they chose t-mobile is wtf. Maybe CDMA is more pain in the ass to develop?

T-Mobile has gotten quite a few high-end phones first or exclusive in the past year or so. The G1, Nexus One, Touch Pro 2, HD2 to name a few. Its not all THAT surprising.

To say they should have partnered with _x_ off the bat, well, obviously the correct answer there is Verizon, not Sprint. While the G1 and N1 weren't flops, its obvious that the Droid and Incredible are the dominant Android devices so far...not the Hero or Moment.

 

[preslove]

Yeah, it was a stupid strategy, but google seems to have realized that pretty quickly. The phone has only been out a couple of months & they've already changed. That's pretty remarkable for a company their size.

 

[SunnyD]

Partnering with T-Mobile is a far more logical choice than Sprint would be if you're interested in a world-wide market presence.

 

[gsaldivar]

Yeah, it was a stupid strategy, but google seems to have realized that pretty quickly. The phone has only been out a couple of months & they've already changed. That's pretty remarkable for a company their size.

Wasn't it released right after the new year?

 

[preslove]

Wasn't it released right after the new year?

January 5th. 5 months is a pretty damn short time period to change strategies.

 

[zerocool84]

Google should have known that the United States is the land of the subsidized phone. We are not like Europe. Un-subsidized phones don't sell well here no matter who makes it cus we can't take our phones anywhere we want like they can in Europe.

 

[pm]

I agree with what CTrain wrote - particularly the sight unseen part and the pricing part. I know a good friend of mine who is on T-Mobile looked at the G1 and he couldn't get the $180 price because he's on a family plan and he's already enrolled in T-Mobile. It seemed a bit bizarre of a decision to restrict it like that.

 

[Spoooon]

From Ars:

Google is now attempting to build a similar retail presence in the US, and when it has done so it will end its online sales. It might not have an easy time accomplishing this, however. Its attempts to partner with Verizon and Sprint resulted in rejection by both networks, so the prospects for a CDMA version of the Nexus One seem very poor indeed.

Google's demands on branding and a refusal to allow the networks to cripple the handset, combined with the strong sales of the Motorola Droid and the buzz surrounding the new HTC Droid Incredible, are likely the cause for Verizon's decision. Similarly, with Sprint touting the new Android-powered HTC Evo 4G, there's little room for the older Nexus One.

Good for Google at least in that respect. Part of why I like my Droid so much is the minimal amount of Verizon garbage on it. And, once rooted, I could eliminate all of it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

You realize the Nexus One isn't just a device for the US. Yes it will fail in the US because consumers need to go to idiotic AT&T stores and play with phones and get a subsidy. The fact is this phone sold like hotcakes in many places in the world, which is why all the unlocked phone retailers online carry it and mark it up for a ridiculous amount. Google should've worked with HTC to get this phone all over the place. Then again who knows. HTC had the Desire up its sleeve for Europe/Asia.

The NexusOne was a flop in the US I get it, but the Desire is doing just fine worldwide. I advise HTC to get some contracts going like Nokia so they can just build a 5-band device. The problem with the US is the disparity in frequencies. If HTC can cover NAM and AWS frequencies with 1 device and also cover EUR/ASIA 2100 UMTS then it's set.

Then you have Sprint + VZW demanding their OWN phones and stuff. It's just a tough market.

 

[CTrain]

You realize the Nexus One isn't just a device for the US. Yes it will fail in the US because consumers need to go to idiotic AT&T stores and play with phones and get a subsidy. The fact is this phone sold like hotcakes in many places in the world, which is why all the unlocked phone retailers online carry it and mark it up for a ridiculous amount. Google should've worked with HTC to get this phone all over the place. Then again who knows. HTC had the Desire up its sleeve for Europe/Asia.

The NexusOne was a flop in the US I get it, but the Desire is doing just fine worldwide. I advise HTC to get some contracts going like Nokia so they can just build a 5-band device. The problem with the US is the disparity in frequencies. If HTC can cover NAM and AWS frequencies with 1 device and also cover EUR/ASIA 2100 UMTS then it's set.

Then you have Sprint + VZW demanding their OWN phones and stuff. It's just a tough market.

Damm, did you just went off on a tangent or what ??
We're talking about Google's marketing strategy for the N1 and what a failure it is in the US.
What the hell does the Desire have to do with anything ??
Its a HTC phone with Sense UI over Android outside of the US right now.
The Incredible is another Nexus variation thats selling like hotcakes for Verizon.
These 2 phones uses Android, thats it. Google has no control over these phones.

 

[Pliablemoose]

For being the smartest guys in the room, they sure as hell didn't know how to market a phone.

Wonder if they'll pursue the tablet....

 

[Phobic9]

For being the smartest guys in the room, they sure as hell didn't know how to market a phone.

Wonder if they'll pursue the tablet....

Google is already working with Verizon on making a tablet.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Google is already working with Verizon on making a tablet.

I wonder if they'll make a CDMA tablet or roll out an LTE tablet next year....

 

[sourceninja]

Honestly, not being able to see and get support for the phone in person is one of the reasons I'm sketching on buying the N1

The ONLY person I know who has one got it a week ago and the 3g radio already broke. He has to mail it back for a fix. If I saw them everywhere like the droid or iphone I'd feel safer dropping 500 bucks.

 

[Rottie]

about time I cant wait to see Nexus One at Tmobile store and see if I can ditch my Sidekick 3.

Any idea when will Tmobile store have Nexus One on the shelf?