Google has found that selling its Nexus One Android smartphone online wasn’t as easy as it thought it might be while launching Nexus One. Google says its iconic Android-powered Nexus One will be sold in retail stores and its experiment with online sales will end. Google’s Andy Rubin admitted consumers want a hands-on experience before buying a smartphone. An unlocked Nexus One costs $529, or $179 with a T-Mobile contract. Google has also struggled with support for the Nexus One.
Google announced on Friday that it will make its Nexus One smartphone available in more countries and in more retail stores globally, following an acknowledgment that sales from its own online store have been sluggish. The announcement came via Google’s official blog yesterday in a post from Andy Rubin, VP, Engineering, that it will soon end its webstore sales avenue and herd the Nexus One into the retail channel.
“While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not,” Andy Rubin wrote. “It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from,” Andy added.
Engadget asked Google about future devices and support for current Nexus One owners, here’s what they said:
On the future: We will continue working with our partners to bring cutting-edge new Android handsets to market, but we have nothing to announce right now.
On support: This announcement doesn’t have any immediate impact on support for consumers who purchase Nexus One through the web store.
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The inability of consumers to “kick the tyres” of the Android phone, along with low sales volumes of Nexus One and few service plan options have been cited for the move. And with other Android samples such as the HTC Evo 4G from Sprint and the new HTC Droid Incredible available from Verizon giving the Nexus One a run for its money, consumers were voting with their feet.
This seems to be an admission by Google that its web based sales of the Nexus One didn’t work so well. People like to see and try what they are buying, especially when it costs half grand. Once the retail presence grows, Google will turn the webstore into an online showcase, advertising the latest Android models from around the world.
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I think Google did a good change since it’s sales of Nexus one has not been quite good. I think their web store idea was a total flop
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I wouldn’t have been too surprised if you had called the “Nexus One” itself a “total flop“! They could have built a much better phone but they totally messed it in their quest to compete with iPhone.
Oh my bad, I did not say that Nexus One has become a flop, yes it was a flop. Actually the other smartphones based on Android like the one from HTC have fared quite better then the Nexus One. I do like the Android platform and it has quite more potential. But Google’s Experiment called Nexus One was Certainly the “Biggest Fail” for Google in a long time.
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that was terrible for this product
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Well who wants to spend 500$ on a mobile phone without touching it or feeling it ? certainly a flop show by google
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Exactly. Price is a big problem for this phone. The 8GB Apple iPhone 3G comes for just $99 and the 3GS version (32GB) is about $299.
Good move by Google as no one will like to buy a product without getting a feel of it.
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But still, I have a haunch that its too late for Google to make this decision. They will be fortunate if it isn’t!
Well yes you are right. Atlast just like every other phone it has come to its realy market
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What did you mean by “real market”, by the way?
500$ for this crap….its not worth of buying really
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Google fail to impress every where except search engine. Search engine field now have some good competition and all thanks goes to Bing and recent change in Facebook(like button) also making Google worry. They should not rely on one business but interestingly they fail in other section always. It’s good in my view. Democracy is always great. They trying to rule the web, what ever they do, we have to admit it. I think, the situation need some changes and believe within 2-3 years we will see something better.
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It was doomed decision from the start. Selling devices is not similar to selling softwares. Hence, the online model simply didn’t work for Android.
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