The Nexus One Is A Flop: 135,000 Phones Sold In 74 Days

There was a lot of hype behind the Nexus One when it first launched. People nerded out like crazy over the first Google phone. Between its hard-core specs and tight connection to one of the most popular companies in technology, analysts predicted the Nexus One would be a big seller. But ten weeks after the launch of Google’s Nexus One smartphone, sales continue to remain slow. Mobile analytics firm Flurry, who also projected first week and first month sales for the snazzy device, has just released its latest sales estimates, deducing that in 74 days, only about 135,000 devices have been sold — which is like, peanuts!

The phone has thus far proven to be “a flop.” According to Flurry’s numbers, Google has moved only 135,000 units, in its first 74 days. By comparison, the iPhone sold one million units in its first 74 days, and the Motorola Droid sold 1.05 million in that time. The DROID had a rumored $100M marketing push, and the iPhone was a full $599 out of pocket at time of launch, which make these Nexus One’s sales figures even less impressive. For further context, the much criticized iPad just went on sale in an online-only mode and sold an estimated 152,000 units in just three days.

The Nexus One is available only through T-Mobile, of course, a significantly smaller network than Verizon and AT&T. And as per Google’s aforementioned unique sales approach, consumers can purchase the phone online only. So it appears that launching with the 3G bands of the #4 U.S. carrier and selling exclusively through a web portal is not proving to be a wise go-to-market strategy, in this case.

Interestingly, the likelihood of a stripped down simplified version of the Nexus One for developing countries like India and Russia now seem very practical . In fact, a slimmed down version of the handset is being positioned for launch in the last quarter of 2010, with a price of 24,000 INR being speculated.

Clearly, the Nexus One is not the big hit that many expected it to be but it is possible that the Nexus One’s sales numbers will hopefully (for Google) improve as it launches on Verizon Wireless and Vodafone in the coming month. But it is also possible that even on Verizon, it (The Nexus One) might never be a hit. What do you think of Nexus One sales? Are you surprised that they are as low as they are? Let us know!