Google's Nexus One: How the Revolution Died

14.05.2010
With the of Google's Nexus One online store, a smartphone revolution is in tatters. Google still has a killer product in Android, but the Nexus One's online-only business model, meant to disrupt the way phones are typically sold, is a failure.

Google wants the Nexus One in more retail stores around the world, which means it'll have to make nice with wireless carriers. So what if Google was selling unsubsidized phones as an alternative to two-year carrier contracts? The idea , so no harm, no foul. Once Google is satisfied with the Nexus One's retail presence, it'll shutter the online store and instead use the as a showcase for all kinds of Android phones.

How did it end this way? It's easy to blame the Web store itself -- people prefer to try before they buy, -- but the full explanation is more complicated than that.

Before the Nexus One launched, analysts wondered if Google would shock the wireless world by . Instead of owing two years to a specific carrier, your debt would be to Google and its advertising. But when Google announced a $529 unsubsidized price for the Nexus One, or $179 with a two-year T-Mobile contract, it was business as usual.

Still, champions of the Nexus One said . By giving customers the option of a subsidized phone on contract with T-Mobile or an unsubsidized phone that could be used for any duration, or swapped for AT&T's 2G network, Google was slowly taking control from the carriers. That was the idea, at least.Unfortunately, the Nexus One . Google wasn't ready to deal with customer service complaints, and it was actually possible to pay than the phone's unsubsidized price.

But what really killed the Nexus One's Web store was Android itself. Those who called the Nexus One were spot-on, as the phone has already been upstaged by the , and soon the . Verizon Wireless and Sprint to carry the Nexus One once they had their own cutting-edge Android phones.