Neil Hughes
The new sales estimates, released Tuesday by mobile analytics firm Flurry, use the 74-day landmark because it's the amount of time that it took the original iPhone, launched in 2007, to cross the 1 million threshold. A year later, the iPhone 3G sold 1 million in its first weekend. For comparison, last November the Motorola Droid sold 100,000 units in its first weekend.
"Despite the fact that the Google Nexus One is the most advanced Android handset to date, and enjoyed substantial buzz leading up to its release, the launch has been overshadowed by lower than expected sales," the firm said. "In our previous reports we offered several possible reasons including unconventional choices in marketing, pricing and distribution."
Flurry said they believe the Droid bested the initial sales of the first-generation iPhone for a number of reasons. First, consumer perception and demand are vastly different than in 2007, when most users had a very different idea of a mobile computing device.
In addition, the Droid launched on Verizon, which is a larger network with more subscribers than AT&T. The device launch was also accompanied by a $100 million advertising blitz.
Finally, Flurry said the Droid likely benefitted from being launched in the holiday season, while none of the first 74 days of sales for the original iPhone and the Nexus One fell during the holidays.
"As Google and Apple continue to battle for the mobile marketplace, Google Nexus One may go down as a grand, failed experiment or one that ultimately helped Google learn something that will prove important in years to come," the firm wrote. "Apple's more vertically integrated strategy vs. Google's more open Android platform approach offer strengths and weaknesses that remind us of PC vs. Mac from the 1980s."
Google unveiled the Nexus One in early January with an innovative approach, offering the unlocked device through direct sales. Though the device is available through T-Mobile for $179, it is also offered for $529 contract-free if users are willing to pay the premium. The handset is expected to launch on the Verizon network soon.
When Apple sued handset maker HTC earlier this month, the Cupertino, Calif., company specifically cited the Nexus One as a handset it believes infringes on iPhone-related patents. With a firmware update the Nexus One was given multi-touch functionality much like the iPhone, an act that some believe led to the lawsuit.
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96 Comments
In its first 74 days of availability, the Google Nexus One has sold an estimated 135,000 units, compared to 1 million in the same timeframe for the original iPhone, and 1.05 million for the Motorola Droid.
It's the network. This is no slam on Google.
The iPhone is a superior phone on a second-place network, the droid vice versa, and the Nexus One is comparable to the droid in execution but the network breadth is a problem.
The Droid ads were pretty intense. Plus Droid is a strong name for a certain audience. Marketing matters.
The Droid ads were pretty intense. Plus Droid is a strong name for a certain audience. Marketing matters.
I couldn't agree more with your signature!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...e-launch-delay
Google forced to delay UK launch of Nexus phone as Apple?s iPad, next-gen iPhone loom
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 - 10:29 AM EDT
"Google's attempt to break into the mobile phone market has hit serious problems in Britain with the launch of its flagship Nexus One device understood to have been delayed until the middle of next month," Richard Wray reports for The Guardian. "While Google has been working with the industry on the Android mobile phone software for several years, the Nexus One, made by Taiwan's HTC, is the first handset over which the search engine group has had complete control. But launching a new phone has proved more difficult than Google expected."
"It was released in the US in January, but Google's decision to sell it solely through its website immediately came in for criticism as buyers struggled to get help with technical problems, and Google, which has traditionally relied on email for consumer contact, was forced to introduce telephone helpline support and the problems it has experienced in the US has given it reason to pause over the phone's launch outside the US, to make sure it has its customer service operations in place," Wray reports. "Last week Goldman Sachs slashed its estimate for Nexus One sales this year from 3.5m units to 1m worldwide."
"The delay also means the Google device will be available in the UK only weeks before another hotly anticipated gadget, Apple's iPad. Several of the UK's mobile phone companies are finalising deals with Apple to sell the tablet computer to British consumers," Wray reports. "Unlike its last mobile device, the iPhone, which was offered through just one exclusive partner for the first two years, the iPad is expected to be available through multiple network operators from the start."
Wray reports, "Apple said earlier this month that the device will go on sale in the UK towards the end of April but the mobile phone companies believe that the 3G version of the iPad will not be available until May. Orange, T-Mobile, O2 and Vodafone all expect to be selling the iPad to customers and they are all locked in talks with the Californian company. Apple, however, has made it plain that it does not want iPad users to be tied to long-term contracts with any mobile phone operator. Instead it wants users to be able to pay for mobile network access on a pay-as-you-go basis."
It's an "adequate" phone on a mediocre network. How is this news?