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‘Google Nexus One’ Category
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Google Nexus One Going On Sprint Nextel As Well?
After reports emerged about the Google’s Nexus One coming on the AT&T network in the US, Sprint Nextel announced that it too would make available Google Superphone and self-proclaimed iPhone Killer on its network in the near future.
However, the operator hasn’t revealed any details about the pricing plans and the possible launch date, though it claimed that it would announce more soon.
Pimping the move, Fared Adib, VP of product development at Sprint said: “Nexus One is a powerful device that belongs on a powerful network. This is another step in our continued partnership of innovation with Google.”
Speaking about the expected pricing of the device, Adib noted: “While a pricing plan has not yet been determined for Nexus One, we are confident that it will be consistent with Sprint’s commitment to deliver more value than our competitors and keep pricing simple”.
The search bellwether asserted that Verizon Wireless and Vodafone would also support the Nexus One smartphone by as early as the coming spring.
While Verizon is speculated to launch the smartphone as soon as 23rd of this month, Vodafone may start offering the handset from sometime in the next month.
Google kicked off selling its Android-powered handset through its online store in January without any contract for $529, or accompanied with a two-year T-Mobile contract for $179.
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Nexus One Smartphone To Come To AT&T?
Search engine giant Google has started to sell a version of the Android-based Nexus One smartphone that can run on AT&T’s 3G network in US.
ABC News reported that the phone may be available from the same network that runs the Nexus One’s archrival, Nexus One.
This is the latest attempt by the company to lure customers into buying the device, which has reportedly sold only 135,000 handsets after 74 days of its launch.
Interestingly, when compared to the million units sold by Apple within 74 days of the first iPhone’s launch, Google’s measly figure of 135,000 Nexus One units seems a bit damp, indicating that as long as the iPhone is around, users will not bet on other smartphone devices.
However, industry experts believe that the smartphone has failed to make an impression on users, despite being the most sophisticated Android device till date, is because of the fact that the device is only available from Google, which has decided to sell the phone separately.
Even now, when the sales of the device are dwindling, the company is only offering a 3G connection from instead of a proper plan.
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Google Nexus One Sales Reach 135000 After 74 Days
Mobile phone analytics company Flurry Inc. has revealed that Google’s Nexus One Android based smartphone is selling at a much slower rate as compared to the first iPhone device.
Apple’s first smartphone had managed to sell one million units while, in the time frame, the Nexus One has sold 135,000 units.
Flurry, which provides application developers with relevant mobile phone data, reported that 74 days after its launch, the Nexus One smartphone has only managed to sell 135,000 units while the iPhone had sold a million units within 74 days of the its launch.
According to Flurry’s marketing vice president Peter Farago, the reason that the Nexus One failed to take off is due to the fact that the company was selling the device via its own site instead of partnering with telecom service providers in the US.
Commenting on the sales figures released by the company, Farago said in a statement that “As successful and talented as Google is online with paid search and other kinds of related businesses, the hardware business is very different.”
Interestingly, another Android based smartphone, Motorola Droid, had also managed to sell 1.05 million handsets within 74 days of its launch, according to the data released by Flurry.
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Comment : Why Did Google Delay UK Release Of Nexus One?
Google kept mum on whether or not its first smartphone will be delayed or not although the Guardian has spilt the beans citing “serious” problems which will delay the phone by a few weeks.
The official website for the Nexus One lists Spring 2010 as the launch window while Vodafone’s website currently indicates “coming Soon” for Google’s superphone.
Since the phone has been already released in the US for more than two months now, we can safely assume that the issue has nothing to do with the hardware and/or software.
It is also unlikely that HTC, which is building the Nexus One for Google, is having issues building the device given the fact that its own Desire handset, which is basically a clone of the Nexus One, is still on target to be launched in a couple of weeks.
The only problem therefore could stem from the fact that Google doesn’t have any infrastructure/back office for handling physical orders for SIM Free Nexus One phones in the UK.
Putting all this in place requires time as well as significant human resources and if what happened in the US told us anything, it’s that Google was caught short by the quality of (aftersales) services that customers were expecting.
If they are scrambling to get things right, they are not disclosing anything and apart from the Guardian report, no other mainstream news outlets have report the same.
Still, the UK market is the most crucial one for HTC as it will serve as a test bed for the whole of Europe. If they get it wrong here, it will have a negative impact on the rest of the campaign.
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Google Delays UK Launch Of Nexus One Smartphone
Google has apparently been forced to delay the launch of its first consumer smartphones, the Nexus One, by a couple of weeks according to some reports.
The Guardian claims that Google encountered more difficulties that it would have expected although it seems that these are linked to establishing a proper backend for customer support and aftersales rather than the phone itself.
Google has relied until now on supporting its non-business user base using emails and online knowledge bases, something that went down pretty poorly with Nexus One customers.
The search giant will be selling the phone either directly (as a SIM Free model), through third parties like Play or Expansys (which lists the Nexus One for more than £600) or on a £35 monthly contract through Vodafone for two years.
This will probably give its more direct competitors a headstart as most will be available in the first few days of April 2010. We understand that Vodafone will be launching three other Android handsets at the same time; the X10, the Legend and the Desire.
The later is similar to the Nexus One, but swaps the trackball for an optical trackball instead.
All five major network providers have already confirmed that they will be selling the HTC Desire with T-Mobile already taking preorders on the phone with prices starting from £30 including unlimited text, data and 600 minutes.
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Google Giving Free Nexus One Smartphones To Developers
Google is keen to get more developers like the prolific Edward Kim to code for the Android platform and has sent out a letter to some of them to inform them that they may receive a Nexus One as part of the company’s “device seeding program”.
Developers will need to have a 3.5 star rating with at least one application that have attracted a minimum of 5,000 downloads to qualify. Coders from Canada, the EU, Norway, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore will receive the handsets if they are selected.
According to Techcrunch, in the US, the developers will may receive a Droid rather than Nexus One (ed : better something than nothing though). Such a display of generosity have had some asking whether the whole thing wasn’t a scam in the first place.
However, Google sent a statement saying that “A thriving developer community is an important part of creating a better mobile experience for users around the world. We hope that offering devices to developers will make it easier for them to create and test great applications.”
It has been suggested that around 2,000 phones will be given away by Google during this campaign but already some are complaining that some countries like Australia have been unceremoniously left out.
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Google Nexus One To Launch On Verizon In Three Weeks?
The International CTIA Wireless 2010 event later this month could see the launch of the Nexus One on Verizon Wireless as one Google Employee has apparently confirmed that a CDMA version of the device will be unveiled on the 23rd of march, when CTIA starts.
The FCC has apparently already given its green light to a Nexus One with a CDMA chipset last week and the phone is already available on T-Mobile on a two-year contract and an initial fee of $180.
A Verizon Wireless version would not only offer better connectivity and network coverage but also bring in some much needed competition in the US. The phone is already expected to come in the UK via Vodafone some time in April.
The phone will be in direct competition with its blood sibling, the Desire, which is also manufactured by HTC. Both will come with a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Android OS 2.1 and a 5-megapixel camera.
The Nexus One can already be ordered straight from Google for around £350 excluding VAT while the Desire will be available soon on T-Mobile for £30 per month on a 24-month contract. You can read our preview of the Nexus One complete with nice snapshots here.
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Vodafone UK To Sell Nexus One From April
It looks as if the Google Nexus One smartphone will be available in the UK from April courtesy of Vodafone, almost at the same time when the HTC Desire arrives in the country.
As we exclusively announced two weeks ago, the HTC Desire will go on sale at Mobilephonedirect for as little as £30 per month on a 24 months contract on T-Mobile on the 1st of April 2010.
The Telegraph says that sources close to both companies have confirmed that the phone, Google’s first consumer device, will be available in April. Vodafone has hitherto only confirmed that it will be going for a Spring launch.
The paper also said that the contract price of the Nexus One would be similar to comparable competitors like the iPhone; the older version of the latter which is currently from O2 for £35 per month with 600 minutes and unlimited texts.
Users have been able to order the Nexus One direct from Google in the US from around £359 excluding VAT.
The Nexus One was the first phone to come with Google’s Android 2.1 and comes with some surprisingly powerful features like a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and a 800×480 multitouch screen
You can jump over to the Nexus preview we did back in January complete with closeup photos.
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Google Reduces Termination Fee For Nexus One Smartphone
Google Inc., the California based search engine giant, has decided to mend its ways and clear the murkiness surrounding its recently launched Nexus One smartphone.
The company has announced that it will tone down the contract termination fee for the Nexus One and has also launched a Nexus One customer care line.
Earlier, if people wanted to cancel the Nexus One T-Mobile contract within 4 months of buying, they ended up paying more than what the phone had actually cost as Google and T-Mobile charged their own separate penalty fees of $350 and $200 respectively.
After much criticism and a threat from the FCC, the company has now trimmed down its penalty fee to $150, which means that canceling customers need to pay $350 in total, the same is charged by telecom service provider Verizon.
Commenting on the revised cancellation fee charged by Google, the company said in a statement that “Google’s overall financial philosophy with regard to operator service plans remains unchanged. We make no profit from commissions from operators or from equipment recovery fees, and our recovery fees are based on operator charges to Google for early termination of service.”
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Google To Provide With Voice Support For Nexus One Smartphone
Google Inc., which recently launched its Android based Nexus One smartphone, has started customer support operations for the users of Nexus One with a goal of providing technical support in a timely manner.
However, the move didn’t come as a surprise as recently Google had posted a job opening ad for a “Phone Support Program Manager, Android/Nexus One,” to be based at the company’s Mountain View, California headquarters
Earlier, when Google launched Nexus One, its online support forums were filled with hundreds of customer queries as Nexus One users were experiencing technical and shipping problems.
At that time Google had redirected the confused customers to HTC and T-Mobile, Google’s hardware and telecom network provider partners for Nexus One.
But this time, Google is willing to attend to customers suggestions and solve their problems directly by starting a 24 hour customer support hotline which was till recently only limited to paid customers of Google Apps.
A Google spokesperson, commenting on Google’s new Live Phone support operation, said in a statement that ”Our approach with our new consumer channel is to learn fast and continue to improve…Live phone support from Google, combined with an optimized on-line support experience, enables a superior Nexus One customer experience.”
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