Google issues statement on Nexus One sales, touts Android Market's 30,000 apps
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted March 17th 2010 1:39PM
posted March 17th 2010 1:39PM
The rep we spoke with also intimated that selling the Nexus One online is not their only plan, leading us to surmise that the handset could be made available in other ways, possibly heading to carrier shops (online or in-store, as we've heard rumblings about). Stating, "We will consider options for expanding distribution of Google's Android devices beyond the current online store if that will help us serve our Android users better." However you slice it, it seems that Flurry's numbers struck a nerve somewhere, so maybe they're close to accurate?We're pleased with our sales volumes and with how well the Nexus One has been received by our customers. The Nexus One is one of a fast growing number of Android handsets which have been brought to market through the open Android ecosystem. Our partners are shipping more than 60,000 Android handsets each day compared with 30,000 just three months ago.
Adding to the 'Android's growing at an insane rate' line, Google's also doing some much-deserved bragging about its Android Market app count, stating:
It is an impressive rate of growth to be sure, and when you couple all these factoids with the news yesterday that the Nexus One would be available for AT&T and Rogers 3G bands, it paints a powerful picture. Still, when you look at marketshare, it's clear that even though Android has been gaining some real momentum, Google has a tough battle to fight on a variety of fronts. Let's hope they can dodge the fragmentation bullet and litigation sideshows and keep this train moving.There are about 30,000 apps available on Android Market, which is more than double the number of apps that were available just four months ago. Additionally, we've seen app purchases increase more than 3 times in that same four month period. So we're not only seeing more developers bringing apps to Android Market, but Android users are also purchasing more apps.
@IppikiOkami
So you are saying you cannot make a phone call with an iPad? Sure you can just use Skype Out.
Both phone and an iPad have 3G too. So you CAN make a phone call if you really want to.
But the fact is it took google 74 days to do what apple did in 1 single day selling UNRELEASED product.
@kyphem That is still a lot of phones for a small carrier (3g is T-mobile only; not AT&T) with a phone that hasn't been advertised and hyped up like the iphone, ipad, droid, etc.
@kyphem My mother's 10 year old laptop is a phone! I'll have to tell her the good news.
@juanvaldez lolwut¿
I don't care if they only sold one, I love my Nexus One!
@juanvaldez well dummy if you buy her a 3G card, you CAN make phone calls. Does ability to make phone calls makes the device a phone? If yes then your laptop is a phone in part.
Have you ever heard of VOIP?
@treats
Much better then any windoze phone or the current iPhone.
@hajile
Hasn't been hyped-up as the iPhone/iPad? Are you serious? Google only had the Nexus One advertised on their search engine page, which is the second most visited page on the internet!?! Not to mention it's been advertised on almost every tech and entertainment site I've visited. Go ahead and continue to make excuses! The 3G problems, easily-cracked screens, and off-target touch screens didn't help their sales either! Keep on making excuses Apple haters.
@GeekGirl You and three others agree.
@StickyD amen! For some reason selling millions of devices for apple is not good enough. and selling less than 150k devices in 2 months for Google is good? Apple haters should at least find some better arguments
@hajile ATT is 3G as of yesterday. Mine is arriving in a matter of hours.
@GeekGirl
yup it's so better that when you lose your phone you have to give up a arm and leg just to find out who to talk to get a replacement phone and if you have issues with the phone you have to give up you brain to find out who handles hardware and software support. meanwhile when you have a crack iphone with insurance you get a new iphone in the store.
yea thank god i have my brain and my arms and legs lol.
I can think of four reasons that the Nexus One's not everyone's choice: 1) It has the highest resolution screen. Not everyone knows what that means. 2) It has the best touch-screen. Not everyone knows or cares about that. 3) It has the fastest processor. Most don't know a phone has a processor, let alone that they come in different speeds. 4) It's $500. Not everyone has five hundred to spend on a phone (or anything else.)
@roebling I agree except you are far far far off on the "best touchscreen" have you been reading the news at all?
@StickyD
when was the last time you actually looked at a product that was advertised by google search?
Very few people look at the adverts, its why theres quite a few of them
Now, stick a TV campaign and a shit tonne of internet advertising, create some hype and pull a press conference where you call it the next ground breaking technology (although, theyd need to take everything that makes the N1 good out first, then release the good things over many years) and it might be comparable to the iphone
@roebling Uhh no it doesn't. The Droid has more pixels in its res. And there's a phone out/soon to be out with high resolution than the iPad.
@kyphem Google(partners) is selling 60,000 Android phones per day and accelerating. That's 21 million per year. Gartner says there were 25 million iPhones sold in 2009. It's not a question of if, only when, Google will overtake Apple.
@kyphem You mean thats how many fanboys they have *cough*
@Alexpeegs Possibly or maybe they like having the ability to customize their devices. I can choose from dozens of desktop environments in Android (GDE, Sweeter Home, Open Home etc.) iPhone? 'fraid not. It's a personal choice. Choice being the operative word.
01100001 01110000 01110000 01101100 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110101 01100011 01101011 01110011
So they are comparying sales of the Moto Droid vs the 2G iPhone? I would hope a $200 would sell better than a $400 product- they should compare Moto Droid to the iPhone 3GS sales... I would like to see that.
@Mentat
Those numbers are to reflect the original launch data of the phones. Maybe if Google had put a major TV campaign behind the phone. That is the one thing Droid and the iPhone both shared.
@Mentat Yeah, let's compare a well grounded, proven phone, to a new phone with a new OS most people had no idea about. Idiot. The comparison they made was the best one they could have.
@Mentat Those numbers are not meant to be a comparison on a competative level. They are just meant to give you an idea of how what the sales numbers for the N1 actually mean. If they just said that the N1 has sold 135,000 units most people would not really know if those where good, average, or poor sales numbers. This is just to give you some perspective. By the way the graph clearly says iphone 1g
@Mentat I think the 3GS sold more than 1.6 Million in the first week.
@scots79 I don't agree with that. Just the pricing of the first iPhone was enough to deter a lot of people. I payed $600.00 for the phone, however my 4 other friends didn't buy the original iPhone because of the $600.00 price tag for the model they wanted.
Please note that I actually think that model was cheaper because the contract pricing was so much lower. Most people only see upfront costs so the $600.00 price tag is huge. Oh and the droid was being sold for $100.00 - $150.00 a week after it was out and a couple weeks again they were giving them away when with a buy one get one...
Stuff like that inflates the numbers making a 3GS comparison better then a comparison with the first gen iPhone.
@dxdragon Correcting bad grammar:
Oh and the droid was being sold for $100.00 - $150.00 a week after it was out. Also a a couple weeks ago they were giving them away with a buy one get one free...
@Mack Stone
"The 3G and 3GS, both $199, on the other hand, both hit 1 million sales in 3 days."
Yes, but they were pretty much a worldwide release. The Nexus One is only available in the US, UK and maybe Hong Kong, so, no, not a valid comparison at all.
@etwashoo Agreed. Fanboys love throwing that number around, but neglect to mention that it is based on a 22 country release and an already established multi-million userbase.
@dxdragon
But anyone with half a brain knows that when you sign a contract to get these phones you pay ~$2000 + phone so $2150 vs.$2500 isn't as big of a difference
@Synergi
The iPhone sales cover one phone
the droid sales cover several phones combined into one figure.
The iPhone is still the more popular phone by a mile.
@Liquidmark Not ANdroid sales, but Droid sales. That is one single phone.
@Mentat Yeah. Seriously... they're actually comparing sales of the original iPhone, at $600 + tax, on AT&T, in June, 3 years ago, to sales of the Droid, for $200, on VERIZON!!! right before the holiday season.
Give me a frickin break.
@Mentat
I know, its skewed as hell, thats the original iPhone man.
3GS sold a million in like a day.
@masterkenobi
Graph shows iPhone 1st generation - US sales only, AT&T only. 2007. Do some reading....
@tdoolz I was referring to etwashoo's response to Mack Stone, who was referring to 3G and 3GS sales (a few comments above mine).
I hear something...I think that's the sound of your foot being inserted into your mouth.
@Alexpeegs
coming from an Android Fanboy...
@Mentat █▄█▄█ █▄█ ▀█▀
@Mentat Android what?
@kyphem
says who?
Sounds like Google wants to rule the mobile world one device at a time. I think they might just do it.
Pretty sure there are more people on Verizon and At&t that could have bought Droid and iPhone than T-Mobile...could be wrong though...
@KungFuHamster And Verizon had the most customers begging for a better handset is also required analysis in this convo, but that would've taken more thought during the writing of the article.
@juanvaldez Indeed, it was legitimately the first desirable smartphone, other than the HD2 which is nice as well, but I know when I was looking there were slim pickings for Verizon customers, even At&t which had more had, apple with a large following since the iPod a few years prior. Either way good point.
@KungFuHamster
yep, at the end of 2009, at&t and verizon both had 3 times the number of subscribers as t-mobile, presumably because their coverage just reaches more people.
google could easily sell a million very quickly on verizon if they wanted to. they could put them in stores, run tv ads like crazy, etc, but i doubt they will. you can tell just from their actions that google doesn't really care how many they sell. obviously the only thing apple cared about was how many they could sell.
@kyphem
Hmm lets look at that chart
Droid a Phone
Iphone a Phone
Nexus One a Phone
And then your comparison
Ipad a oh wait a minute it has nothing to do with this..
So they failed at selling it online and now are reconsidering that stupid decision and trying to sell it in stores.
I also like how they conveniently forgot to mention that not only has the N1 sold in ridiculously small quantities when first launched, but it's month-by-month sales are dropping rather dramatically for something that is supposed to be a "Superphone".
(InBefore the excuses that selling phones is not the point of the N1, even though if it wasn't then, they would have simply let HTC sell it only under their own name instead of trying to put the Google name on it front and center)
@Hazdaz Yeah, people would've lined up at the TMO stores for this had it been available there.
@Hazdaz well, I think Google is competing with themselves here. With the recent news of the Supersonic releasing in summer, and Incredible for Verizon, it would be useless to put the N1 on CDMA or even GSM carriers locally now...
@Hazdaz
I think it has more to do with the N1 only being subsidized on T-Mobile, and it's extremely delayed appearance to ATT and VZW. Most people are not willing to pay full price for a phone that will not be compatible with their carrier's 3g network.
There's no denying that it's a cool phone, but its chance at explosive sales has passed. I have a feeling that most people on VZW that were waiting for an Android offering are already carrying Droids, and a sizable chunk of ATT customers will hold out for a subsidized Desire. Sales will increase, but nowhere near to the level of the Droid and iPhone.