Nexus first week sale at 20,000

[Epic Fail]

http://www.inquisitr.com/56938/nexus-one-goes-from-bad-to-worse-manages-only-dismal-sales/

The number might not be 100% accurate but the number should still be low. Without a store presence and a strong marketing push, the causal buyers might not even know the existence of the phone.

 

[secretanchitman]

its not too bad with pretty much little advertising on tv, radio, etc. i still think it could be a lot better though, hopefully over time.

 

[zerocool84]

its not too bad with pretty much little advertising on tv, radio, etc. i still think it could be a lot better though, hopefully over time.

I didn't hear or see one advertisement. The only reason I knew about it is cus I frequent tech sites. The Droid was heavily advertised.

 

[aceO07]

There was no advertising. Just leaked photos for a 2-3 weeks.. Then previews and then it was for sale..

I'm actually surprised it sold that many considering that only gadget geeks or phone geeks would have been following the news and considering buying one. All the people who have it seem to love it. There are issues, but HTC is working on fixing them or replacing them.

The Flurry chart is comparing a 3rd gen iphone to a new (almost out of nowhere) android phone.
- The first iPhone sold 270k in its 1st quarter (3 MONTHS), led in by 6 MONTHS of buzz and hype and advertising. (from wiki)
- The Nexus One sold 20k in 1 WEEK, with a couple of DAYS of actual reviews.
- The Droid sold 250k in 1 WEEK. Compare that to iPhone's 270k in 1 QUARTER!

That's one of the more negative articles I've read. Every sentence is trying to lead you to one (very negative) conclusion, without giving you any evidence to support it. "unmitigated disaster", "you can’t see sales increasing any time soon", "if all they could manage", "how few will they sell", "non-existent customer service", "predicting the phone will be replaced", "have to offload", "desperate to rid itself of Nexus One stock"..

 

[shortylickens]

Glad someone else noticed how poor this article was.
They said it failed as one of the most hyped phones ever but it clearly had shit for hype.

 

[Fox5]

Glad someone else noticed how poor this article was.
They said it failed as one of the most hyped phones ever but it clearly had shit for hype.

Droid had way more hype, but there was a lot more expected from the nexus one as it was the 'most' google phone yet of the google phones.

Still, with no hype beyond viral internet hype, and coupled to tmobile's network, how well did people think it would do?
Compare it to the mytouch, which only sold 60,000 in its first week, and that was before the tmobile market for android phones was saturated.

Not to mention the g1 apparently had very good sales when it came out, people who wanted an android phone on tmobile already got theirs.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I gotta tell you, the industry is laughing a bit, I think everyone was seriously freaked at first (telecom inc), now that they see Google has not only adopted their business models, but one upped them with the dual ETF's, piss poor support, and jumping on board with the smallest of the 4 major players, they're breathing a sigh of relief.

I always thought Google was a pretty sharp company, this phone is like someone in the company lost a bet & had to put a phone out there...

 

[aceO07]

I gotta tell you, the industry is laughing a bit, I think everyone was seriously freaked at first (telecom inc), now that they see Google has not only adopted their business models, but one upped them with the dual ETF's, piss poor support, and jumping on board with the smallest of the 4 major players, they're breathing a sigh of relief.

I always thought Google was a pretty sharp company, this phone is like someone in the company lost a bet & had to put a phone out there...

You don't need to sign up with T-Mobile to get the phone. (Don't need to sign up with anybody.) In fact, it's cheaper to get the phone without T-Mobile! Why go under contract for 2yrs paying $80/month when you can pay $60/month for the same service and save >$100 in 2yrs. The Google ETF is only until first 120days, though it is odd.

The Flurry chart and lots of clearly biased (no evidence, 'prediction') articles on it tells me something is wrong, and it's not Google.

 

[Pliablemoose]

You don't need to sign up with T-Mobile to get the phone. (Don't need to sign up with anybody.) In fact, it's cheaper to get the phone without T-Mobile! Why go under contract for 2yrs paying $80/month when you can pay $60/month for the same service and save >$100 in 2yrs. The Google ETF is only until first 120days, though it is odd.

I'm an existing TMobile customer, with a family plan, eligible for an upgrade on all 3 lines, unfortunately, not eligible for a Nexus One.

Google has said for years they wanted to shake up the cell industry.

Selling an unlocked, unsubsidized phone with a take it or leave it attitude towards the price, upgrade path, support, and existing customers on the carrier it's intended for ain't an industry changer, it's pretty damn lame.

They also gamed the system by using tech bloggers for word of mouth advertising instead of doing a typical launch.

Google saved enough $ on the launch to cut the price by another $100-$200.

 

[Cuda1447]

I don't know about you guys, but I don't think Google intended to sell 200,000 of these phones. I'm of the opinion that they wanted to put out a quality device that, down the road would give them a good track record, while testing out their new store front. They've never done anything like this, so I'm sure they didnt want to get slammed for 500,000 orders on day one and crash their store. Just my opinion, but I think google knew what they were doing and got what they expected.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I think google knew what they were doing and got what they expected.

They intended to tarnish the brand with the phone's 3G/edge issue and the worst support in the industry?

 

[DivideBYZero]

At a constant 20k per week they would still be shipping ~1% of the volume of RIM and Apple put together. Hardly going to be a 'game changer', unless you win the game by selling the least.

 

[Pliablemoose]

At a constant 20k per week they would still be shipping ~1% of the volume of RIM and Apple put together. Hardly going to be a 'game changer', unless you win the game by selling the least.

I find comparisons between sports cars and cell phones to be fairly accurate, like sports cars, they sell like crazy at first, then taper off dramatically as the platform ages.

20K is pretty miserable, and with the bad publicity, and complexity of even purchasing this phone, I think it's in serious trouble.

I'd like to see the return rate on this phone, I'd bet it's near the same rate as the Storm I. I'm seeing posts by people that are pissed when they figure out it won't do 3G on ATT.

Problem is that most cell phone consumers aren't that sophisticated. They want to walk into a store and see it, and they want it to work immediately.

Google = hubris lately.

 

[Cuda1447]

I'm seeing posts by people that are pissed when they figure out it won't do 3G on ATT.

They get what they deserve then. If you are buying this phone (especially for $530) one would hope that you know what the hell you are buying. Furthermore, you would think that anyone buying this phone is at least a bit of a phone geek and would probably have known it didn't have ATT's 3G bands anyway. This should really be a non-issue.


As for the 3G/Edge connectivity issue, ya they messed that up. But if they fix it in reasonable time its not the end of the world. It certainly doesn't make the phone unusable.


One last thing, I've noticed a ton of review sites brutalizing this phone and being EXTREMELY biased. I don't understand what all the hate is for. Google has put out a tremendous phone, even with all the issues its easily one of the best phones on the marekt. And I can say that. I own an Iphone, Mytouch, G1, Blackberry 9700, 8900 8320, Samsung Memoir, HTC Touchpro2. And have also used the Hero, Droid and Pre fairly exstensively.

It just seems like its cool to hate on Google right now. *Shrugs*

 

[Deeko]

I guess this goes to show the "power" of Google ad words!

I don't know about you guys but every site I go to that uses Google ads (which is, well, a lot of the internet) has been showing non stop Nexus One ads. Yet with no TV or radio advertising, the average person doesn't have a clue....

How does Google makes billions on this advertising again? Maybe this will show companies that they're wasting their money.

 

[aceO07]

At a constant 20k per week they would still be shipping ~1% of the volume of RIM and Apple put together. Hardly going to be a 'game changer', unless you win the game by selling the least.

At a constant 20k/week, it would do ~240k/quarter.. not that far behind 1st gen iPhone's first quarter of 270k. This is without the huge advertising that Apple did for the iPhone..

 

[aceO07]

I find comparisons between sports cars and cell phones to be fairly accurate, like sports cars, they sell like crazy at first, then taper off dramatically as the platform ages.

20K is pretty miserable, and with the bad publicity, and complexity of even purchasing this phone, I think it's in serious trouble.

I'd like to see the return rate on this phone, I'd bet it's near the same rate as the Storm I. I'm seeing posts by people that are pissed when they figure out it won't do 3G on ATT.

Problem is that most cell phone consumers aren't that sophisticated. They want to walk into a store and see it, and they want it to work immediately.

Google = hubris lately.

20k for 1st week isn't miserable (for the circumstances), despite what all the articles want you to think. Even if the sales taper off, it can still go 200k/quarter.. not too shabby for a miserable 20k first week w/o real advertising. Did you know Apple has 6 months to advertise for their 270k for first 12weeks?

The people who do have it (at least on xda) are extremely happy. They do have their problems but I think it will be resolved soon. Mostly software and Android can do over the air updates, so it's not a hassle to update when it's fixed.

The unsophisticated people aren't going to buy it anyways as it's not in the store now.

I have noticed that most (what I perceive to be biased/negative) articles are from websites with some link to iPhone/Apple (apps or products).

 

[Epic Fail]

I guess this goes to show the "power" of Google ad words!

I don't know about you guys but every site I go to that uses Google ads (which is, well, a lot of the internet) has been showing non stop Nexus One ads. Yet with no TV or radio advertising, the average person doesn't have a clue....

How does Google makes billions on this advertising again? Maybe this will show companies that they're wasting their money.

Where do the Nexus One ads link to? Google is the only seller of the phone and it doesn't look like google has any commission program. The lack of kickback is probably hurting sales too, if someone walks into an authorized Tmobile dealer and ask for the best phone, they are not going to mention the Nexus One, that would drive the customer to the web and cost they a commission.

 

[aceO07]

I guess this goes to show the "power" of Google ad words!

I don't know about you guys but every site I go to that uses Google ads (which is, well, a lot of the internet) has been showing non stop Nexus One ads. Yet with no TV or radio advertising, the average person doesn't have a clue....

How does Google makes billions on this advertising again? Maybe this will show companies that they're wasting their money.

I think Nexus One is a 'beta' product from Google. As cuda1447 said, they didn't intend to sell that many anyways. It was 'advertised' around CES.. not the Music Awards. It was targeting people who were into gadgets.

 

[sswingle]

Is everyone forgetting that this is coming to Verizon?

And to those upset it doesn't work with AT&T, well, they never said it would...

 

[Pliablemoose]

Is everyone forgetting that this is coming to Verizon?

And to those upset it doesn't work with AT&T, well, they never said it would...

It took days to admit there's a problem with data, and no fix in sight yet. If it's a hardware problem, people will be pissed, and it evidently has a worse antenna than the G1, I suspect it's a software and a hardware problem...

Verizon's phone ain't a done deal yet, and frankly, I have a hard time believing Verizon will go along with what's happening so far, they've loosened up, but I'll be amazed if they allow it to happen.

We shall see...

 

[Deeko]

Where do the Nexus One ads link to? Google is the only seller of the phone and it doesn't look like google has any commission program. The lack of kickback is probably hurting sales too, if someone walks into an authorized Tmobile dealer and ask for the best phone, they are not going to mention the Nexus One, that would drive the customer to the web and cost they a commission.

I tried it on a sports forum I visit - it took me to google.com/phone/sports, which was kinda like the main page except with ads for the various sports apps in the market.

 

[a123456]

I don't think they wanted it sell that well. This is Google's first phone and they're completely inexperienced with customer services issues. People paying 500 for a phone are going to want good service and as good a track record as Google has had, quality customer service by telephone has not really been there since they don't need to have any for their current products. At least my first instinct after using the Google search engine is not to give them a call if it doesn't find what I want.

Sure, they might have some minor business dealings on the phone but the majority of their current revenue doesn't really require handling tons of inane phone calls from clueless customers.

Although putting out this N1 phone with "mediocre" results seems like it might dilute their brand name a bit.

 

[Pliablemoose]

And to those unfamiliar with sales #'s...

Vodaphone UK started carrying the iPhone (the 4th carrier in the UK to carry the iPhone) and sold 50K iPhones on the first day.

What fanboys on both sides of the aisle don't understand is how huge the smartphone market really is, and it's going to get bigger.

I'm going to likely get a Nexus as I'm a TMobile customer, but I'm going to let things get smoothed out a bit...

 

[zoiks]

Just got my Nexus. Wow. I'm impressed. Not perfect but close to it.