Maybe we're oversimplifying here, but we never really got the impression that Google was intending to blow out the launch of the
Nexus One. Sure, you could argue that seeding the phones to employees ahead of the announcement was an effort to build buzz -- but it didn't really make any attempt to capitalize on the move, and last week's subdued press conference in Mountain View (sans the holy trinity of Eric, Larry, and Sergey) wasn't the wild, crazy event it could've been had Google wanted it to be. That's why we're not particularly surprised to see that the app analytics peeps over at Flurry are estimating (based on usage of the apps that it instruments) that just 20,000 Nexus Ones were sold in the first week of retail -- a far cry from its 250,000 figure for the
Droid, much less the
iPhone 3GS' staggering 1.6 million. As Flurry notes, Verizon pumped (and continues to pump) millions upon millions of dollars into advertising the Droid in print, television, and the web; that alone boosted broad consumer interest, something Google earned to a far lesser extent through media coverage alone. Furthermore, the Droid instantly relieved much of the "if only the iPhone were on Verizon" pressure that had been building over the prior year, whereas the Nexus One brought nothing fundamentally new to the table for T-Mobile -- and many folks on other networks either won't or simply can't switch to the number four carrier for business or coverage reasons. The bottom line is that we suspect Google isn't sweating the Nexus One's sales figures one bit, no matter how high or low they may be; whether that's a smart strategy for Android as a platform in the long term, though, remains to be seen.
posted January 13th 2010 6:08PM
Why would it? It's nice but there's a choice of Android phones.
@MarkAnderson
Agreed, It is more or less just another Android phone, I'm still puzzled as to why everyone thought this was going to blow the doors off the smartphone (superphone?) industry.
@Mach It might prove caution with their approach and platform (Google.com/phone site). We all know that Google has unique access to the largest advertising mechanism, so when they truly mean business, you'll know about it. Look at Google Chrome, already surpassing Safari or the uptake of Google Apps when properly advertised. Android still has a long way to go, but hey at least it's still growing right?
Today, we are seeing some of the errors and glitches that a future user may want to look before buying the N1 phone. As they said, 530 USD has never became cheap. Details: http://bit.ly/nexus-one-disadvantages-compiled-details
@MarkAnderson
If they want to be real about these stupid charts, let them show OSX mobile sales vs WinMo sales vs Android sales vs WebOs sales vs Symbian sales in any given period.
Then we'll see which OS is really the shit...
@Rem DX
Why don't you just buy what you like and stop acting like it's a fucking competition?
@Rem DX
Since we're reporting random Nexus One news, allow me...
Hey Engadget, Ars totally housed your shoddy review of the Nexus One.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/reviews/2010/01/nexus-one-review.ars
@MarkAnderson
I hope those rocket scientist realize that those other pones are pushed by carriers. Tmobile doesn't even list the Nexus One on their website. Considering the amount of time google considers products to be in beta... the Nexus one is in beta thus they don't want to push it as hard to the market.
@MarkAnderson
The android fangurls are just jealous as usual of Apple's success.
So WHAT it's 8 countries. If you must divide it up evenly into 8. I'm sure the iPhone destroys the competition...
Furthermore even if you went back to the ORIGINAL iPhone it still beats the shit out of the Nexus One.
Google FAILS...
The Nexus One phone not selling like hotcake is a win for Google!
Google would not want to take sales away from its partners - only to inspire them. Google does not need to make money from the Nexus One phone; it is doing all right with its search engine. Android is an enabler, it enables disparate companies to get in on the mobile phone action and tap into one big developer base.
Google is happy so long as all roads lead to Google search. In fact, Google is even willing to play nice with Palm or any other company that embraces Google search. Now, this is the Google we all want to like and love!
@TheRogueFFAngel
I don't have an Android phone and don't like the Nexus One, but I can tell you this: the iPhone is one hell of a crapfest. It sucks. Who cares if more idiots are buying it? It's not like you profit from it.
@Rem DX I just checked out that Ars review. I agree with it having used the Nexus One for three days now. I'm trying to make it lag but can't lol. I keep throwing loads of things for it to do but it keeps up. It's truly one of the best smartphones ever made. The review says it all. The engadget review is a joke.
@Thinker
LOL keep making up excuses for the failure of this phone, why didn't y'all come up with these excuses when you were pimping out this phone.
@BigKing
Is that why the iphone has the highest consumer satisfaction and business satisfaction dumbass.
@MarkAnderson I sense a highly sophisticated marketing program behind this whole Nexus One/Android affair. It looks to me like Google intends the Nexus One to be a kind of retail reference platform, a jump-off point for developers on the Android 2.x OS.
Here's what I think went down:
Google had the Android OS. Android debuted on the G1, which was hyped out the wazoo but never impressed me, or represented a serious threat to established competitors in the smartphone market. Google then wanted to spur rapid development of Android handset technology, and took a lesson from its experience with the hype of the G1. So Google would make a phone, and they'd hype that phone within the industry and the tech community into a headspin.
Then they would release the phone and yeah, it would be nice, but it's just another (pretty fast and definitely capable) Android handset. It's still just an HTC Android phone though. But I believe Google intended to use the threat of this device's potential impact on the market as a tool to spur innovation in other Android handset manufacturers. After all, Google profits as long as we all end up at Google Search, and whatever device gets us there doesn't matter for their bottom line.
I think the name is a clue too. "Nexus One" means to me "the new standard by which the performance of Android smartphones ought to be compared"
(from Merriam Webster "Nexus (n.) 1 : connection, link; also : a causal link
2 : a connected group or series
3 : center, focus")
Put this device in context and it's easy to understand why large volume sales of Nexus One devices are far less important than what it means within the industry Google has built around its core software products.
@Luke that was a great reveiw i never go to that site cause i thought it was a fan boi site for apple but man was a surprised and proven wrong with this article Engadget take notes b!@tches thank for the article link
@Luke
"@Rem DX
Since we're reporting random Nexus One news, allow me...
Hey Engadget, Ars totally housed your shoddy review of the Nexus One.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/reviews/2010/01/nexus-one-review.ars"
Great review.
Engadget / Josh, your review WAS A PIECE OF SHIT
Notice how their review is 100% objective and focuses on... my god.. are those BENCHMARKS. Imagine that!
@Johnny Rockets
I read the review as well, and I was impressed. They laid everything out very well. Engadget, I love you guys, but you might want to read that review, and take notes!
@Johnny Rockets
Is that why the comments from that review are complaining about it? I guess there's always someone accusing others of bias.
@Mach The same reasons why they thought the same of the moto droid. It's all hype.
@MarkAnderson
Google hasn't been exactly advertising the heck out of this smartphone. Most people probably haven't even heard about it.
To be fair they should compare the (original) iPhone 2G, which would still win if I'm remembering correctly.
@alblair
Shhh..
Do';t you know the rules.
You can only use statistics when they can be chopped up enough to make the iPhone look good. So individual handset sales only, not platform sales.. The RDS could be very fragile in some cases..
@(Unverified)
Agreed. At this point I expect Engadget to report on anything that will make Apple look better, but that has never really stopped me from reading. What is going to make me stop reading is the use of the word "guesstimate." Ew guys. Just ew.
@kneedeepingadgets
Please be realistic. The first iPhone sold 270 thousand handsets in the first 2 days. No phone can compare to the iPhones sales. Partly because Apple is smart enough to launch their phone in multiple countries. Mostly because the iPhone is a really good phone and alot of people like them. You can downrank people for saying the word "iPhone" as much as you but it wont change how it is.
@(Unverified)
Oh the irony. You want to combine every single phone with Android on it just to make their numbers "look good" against the iPhone, which is a SINGLE PHONE.
To use your own rules, "You can only use statistics when they can be chopped up enough to make Android look good"
Right?
@(Unverified)
Hey dumbass, let's compare platform sales, iphone still owns your useless Android, go check out the marketshare for smartphone OS.
@kneedeepingadgets
So they shouldn't report the sales of the Nexus, how dumb can some of you be?
You all realize that these numbers only tell us who created the best hype machine and not the best device, right?
@Jack
It's the same old straw man argument. Apple is selling more iPhones than anybody else.. YAY.. Kinda reminds me of a quote from a recently ex president..
Face it. The thing that many said when the first android phone launched is coming true. Android phones will outnumber the iPhone (singular) very quickly. Every month some company is bringing out ANOTHER Android phone. But Apple refreshes THE iPhone what.. Once a year? And it looks pretty much the same as the first one.
Remember. The iPhone is a single handset with it's own platform. Android is a platform with many handsets.
And for the record.. I don't have a cell phone. Smart or otherwise. Don't want one, don't need one. I just read the cell phone articles to laugh at the fanboys.
But if I was going to get one, I'd go for the Nokia N900. Not some locked down toy. And it doesn't matter if it doesn't outsell the iPhone, or Android. I buy what I want, not what everybody else has.
@alblair
Yeah keep deluding yourself.
Really not too surprising. Looking back, I'm surprised I dished out $575 for it, but I'm still happy I did. Definitely the best phone I've ever owned. My only regret is buying and attempting to install that 3M clearcoat shield: that sh!t is so difficult to install!
-Nexus 1, MyTouch and Driod: Sold in one country
-iPhone 3G[s] sold in 8
well there's your problem!
@werty1432k
And Android is split between multiple pieces of hardware (as pointed out by MarkAnderson in the initial response). Love how we compare numbers for the sake of comparing, regardless if they really make sense.
@werty1432k
The MyTouch 3G was sold in a lot more countries under the original name HTC Magic. I wonder how things would be different on that chart if that were taken into consideration. The Magic sold like hotcakes in Europe.
@ljm So the point is that its not the amount of devices running your OS its the amount of country's the device is sold in.
@airmikee
The Droid is sold in Europe under the Milestone name so those devices should be included too.
@werty1432k
that's the weirdest way to write 3GS I've seen yet
@werty1432k
The iphone still owns all the useless Android phones combined for sales in the US.
@Goona
[citation needed]
@noname
Here is one one installed base:
http://www.slashgear.com/iphone-pips-winmo-in-us-smartphone-marketshare-1866341/
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/10/28/rim-and-apple-top-u-s-smartphone-market-share/
World marketshare:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Smartphone_2009.svg
The iphone on one carrier in the US which some want us to believe is the worst is owning all those Android phones out there on now 3 different carriers in the US, now coming to 4 with AT&T.
@Goona
I agree with the fact that iPhone has the most sales, but all three of your links were not about sales of the iPhone vs Andoid phones. They either didnt mention Android, or weren't about US sales or about sales at all!
Also, stop calling people "dumbass" in almost every post. Not a good way to sell an argument.
@3rdman
Actually the first one does mention Android, if Android had a high marketshare in the US it would have been mentioned. The only reason why companies are jumping on it is because its free. I mean look how many Android phones have been released:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Android_devices
@Goona
Each of those links is about current market share. This article is about first week sales. iPhone has been around longer than android--I would expect its market share to be higher.
Further, I would argue that even though these devices had higher 1st week sales, that's not indicative of how the n1 will do overall. The nexus one is now the new, best android device (in terms of specs and currently software). Anyone thinking of switching to android (and is either on T-mo, willing to switch, or willing to pay the unlocked price) will probably pick up this device sooner or later.
Also, before the n1, they released the droid which was a major upgrade in the android sector, and the G1 before that! People who adopted android (probably most of who WOULD buy this phone) aren't even out of contract yet! Why would they switch?
I can't even begin to describe all of the insignificance that this study has. The only thing it proves is that it didn't move as many people over to the android side of the smartphone market as the droid or G1 (which isn't even mentioned). It's just another dick measuring contest.
@Goona
In your original post I thought you meant first week sales in the US. If you were talking market share all along I would have agreed. (citation needed was sort of a joke anyway)
That second part wasn't really directed at you... these kind of articles just piss me off.
@werty1432k
yeah yeah that's it, other countries. Are these comments from the same Engadget that anytime a post about the iPhone selling overseas laughs it up as some sort of fabrication because why in the world would anyone outside the U.S. want that 100 year old dinosaur when their phones are so light years ahead? Oh right, the iPhone is dominating when being compared to their iKillers so obviously its that the world suddenly went back in time and bought them up like hotcakes and that's why they sold so much. Isn't the current iPhone the 3rd iteration and had been out for a couple years and still sells along side the 3G? If your trying to make a similar case that there's so many "great" Android phones out there on the market to choose from, yeah I don't by that either, then why wouldn't the 3GS's numbers be lower when there was 4 different iPhones (capacity/price) out before the 3GS was even released? Give it up already iHaters, you're fighting a battle you won't win, at least for a long time, but hey iFart apps ahahha durr yeah take that!!
@JeremyBenthem I thought it was cool lol. you do get why I did it though right?
I think a big problem could be is that not to many people know about the phone are don't have the money to get one.
The fact that you could only use one specific plan sort of killed this too.
You're looking at a very small number of people who would be willing to give up the plans they are in (including everyone on a family plan) just to get this phone.
But...it's a superphone...
It should be noted that the majority sold are unlocked phones, and they're only offering the phone on contract on T-Mobile and you can only buy it online. There also wasn't much marketing like there was for the Droid, or even the Magic. Right now, this is a phone for people that read Engadget, not the unwashed masses. Once it becomes available in stores, and it gets an advert or two on TV, I assume sales will shoot right up.
That said, it might not be a bad thing for Android if it fails.