How not to launch a phone
Last last year there was a huge buzz over the internet that Google was going to create their own phone. There was a lot of talk about what possible features Google would include like voice over IP, Google Navigation and an upgraded version of the android os. When Google finally unveiled the Nexus One there was a lot of excitement about the phone. Immediately it was compared to the iPhone and initially looked superior. Five months later, sales have been horrible and Google has been forced to change their sales approach.
When Google announced their new phone they decided to fore go the traditional sales venues by selling their phone online. Google wanted to bring the Nexus One to all four major US carriers but didn't want any of them to sell the phone directly. Google announce you could buy the phone unsubsidized for $520 or $199 on T-Mobile with a two year contract.
Google would eventually released a Nexus One capably of running on AT&T but the hopes of running on Sprint and Verizon have been dashed. First it was rumored Verizon would be the next carrier for the Nexus One but shortly after the Droid Incredible was announced the Nexus One was dead on Verizon. Then two weeks later Sprint comes out and says the Nexus One will not be coming to their network.
This past week Google announced they will stop selling the Nexus One online and shift to established retail stores for future sales. The sales online have to be less than acceptable for Google to abandon their online strategy. This is not only an embarrassing failure of the phone but also of their online marketing. It's unclear if this means T-Mobile stores will start carrying the phone or other electronics retailers.
I've been very interested in the Nexus One since the rumors started. I was eagerly waiting for the phone to make it's way to the Sprint network. I was not willing to switch networks for a phone with a possible network issue and that i couldn't first hold in my hand. The multi-touch issues don't bother me at all because I rarely use that functionality. The fact that Google will push updates to the Nexus One immediately is a killer reason to buy one for me. If it had come to Sprint I would have bought one for myself but now I'm wondering if I should wait for an Android 2.2 phone on my network of choice.
When Google announced their new phone they decided to fore go the traditional sales venues by selling their phone online. Google wanted to bring the Nexus One to all four major US carriers but didn't want any of them to sell the phone directly. Google announce you could buy the phone unsubsidized for $520 or $199 on T-Mobile with a two year contract.
Google then decided that they would only advertise the phone online. Google used ads on web pages and videos on YouTube to show off the Nexus One. They never ran a single TV commercial or ad in a magazine for the Nexus One. They simply hoped that word of mouth and the online communities would help boost sales of the Nexus One. Google relied simply on online advertisement to sell their phone.
After the Nexus One launched hardware issues started showing up and it was clear Google had no idea how to support a retail product. The first issue that was made known was a 3G issue on T-Mobile. The phone would lose a 3G connection running on T-Mobile in areas other phones would have a solid 3G connection. Then videos showed up that depending on how you held the phone you'd lose the connection. This negative feedback clearly hurt the phone and was followed up by a new video showing how multi-touch didn't work as expected on the Nexus One.
After the Nexus One launched hardware issues started showing up and it was clear Google had no idea how to support a retail product. The first issue that was made known was a 3G issue on T-Mobile. The phone would lose a 3G connection running on T-Mobile in areas other phones would have a solid 3G connection. Then videos showed up that depending on how you held the phone you'd lose the connection. This negative feedback clearly hurt the phone and was followed up by a new video showing how multi-touch didn't work as expected on the Nexus One.
Google would eventually released a Nexus One capably of running on AT&T but the hopes of running on Sprint and Verizon have been dashed. First it was rumored Verizon would be the next carrier for the Nexus One but shortly after the Droid Incredible was announced the Nexus One was dead on Verizon. Then two weeks later Sprint comes out and says the Nexus One will not be coming to their network.
This past week Google announced they will stop selling the Nexus One online and shift to established retail stores for future sales. The sales online have to be less than acceptable for Google to abandon their online strategy. This is not only an embarrassing failure of the phone but also of their online marketing. It's unclear if this means T-Mobile stores will start carrying the phone or other electronics retailers.
I've been very interested in the Nexus One since the rumors started. I was eagerly waiting for the phone to make it's way to the Sprint network. I was not willing to switch networks for a phone with a possible network issue and that i couldn't first hold in my hand. The multi-touch issues don't bother me at all because I rarely use that functionality. The fact that Google will push updates to the Nexus One immediately is a killer reason to buy one for me. If it had come to Sprint I would have bought one for myself but now I'm wondering if I should wait for an Android 2.2 phone on my network of choice.
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