San Francisco
– Google’s (NASD: GOOG) Nexus One smartphone has sold just 135,000 units in its first 74
days on sale, a time period during which Apple (NASD: AAPL) sold 1 million of its
first-generation iPhone and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) 1.05 million of its Droid handsets,
according to a report from mobile analytics firm Flurry.
The disparity
indicates that Nexus One sales so far are about one-eighth those of initial iPhone
or Droid sales.
Flurry bases its calculations on Nexus One sales by tracking
the use of mobile applications on the device; the firm says applications it is
tracking have been downloaded to over 80% of all iPhone OS and Android devices.
The Nexus One launched on T-Mobile, but was expanded to AT&T on Tuesday and
is expected to launch for Verizon Wireless as well.
"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," noted Flurry’s Peter Farago.
Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uvhie
(Flurry blog)
http://snipurl.com/uvhio
(All Things D)
Why don’t any of these writers realize that Google doesn’t care weather the Nexus one sales well or not? If they did then they would have marketed it. Consider that Google sold 135,000 units, on T-Mobile nonetheless, with no money spent on marketing while the Droid sold their million units with $100 million spent on marketing. To call the Nexus One a failed experiment is a display of ignorance. Google’s goal is to give power to the users. If Google has its way then carriers would compete with their network and prices instead of what exclusivity deals they could get. Everyone knows that the only reason AT&T is alive is because of the iPhone. Unfortunately that life extension is at the expense of their users. Until current generation android phones came out users were forced to chose either a lower quality device or stick with artificially high prices, forced contracts, and substandard service. This is why T-Mobile and Google are such good partners. T-mobile offers service without a contract or credit check at nearly reasonable prices. They also give you the option to buy a phone at a discount if you are willing to commit to a contract for service at a $10-$20/mo premium. This gives users a choice and gives T-Mobile incentive to focus on their network to attract more users. That is the free market in action. With companies like AT&T it would be a stretch to call it a free market since they are manipulating the user’s choices.