Google is to stop selling its Nexus One smartphone through its Web store, marking a U-turn in the firm’s attempt to reshape the mobile-phone market by selling handsets directly to customers. The company said in a blog post it would make the phone available to consumers through wireless partners’ existing retail channels. Google added that […]
Google is to stop selling its Nexus One smartphone through its Web store, marking a U-turn in the firm’s attempt to reshape the mobile-phone market by selling handsets directly to customers. The company said in a blog post it would make the phone available to consumers through wireless partners’ existing retail channels. Google added that its Web store would morph into an “online store window” where it could showcase a variety of phones built with its Android software.
18/05/2010
Andy Rubin, Google’s Android chief, said in the post that the company is “very happy” with the adoption of Android handsets in general, even though the Web store concept didn’t live up to expectations. The strategy met with mixed results, including poor handling of customer service and lackluster sales.
“While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not,” he 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.”
The retreat is the latest blow for Nexus One, the company’s only branded mobile phone. Google broke with convention when it launched its phone in January, saying it would sell Nexus One through its Web store with or without a wireless contract.
The handset sells for $529 without wireless service. U.S. customers can also buy the phone for $179 if they commit to a two-year contract with Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA, the only U.S. carrier to offer a plan for Nexus One.
However, rival carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. have recently indicated they would not make Nexus One available on their networks, depriving potential Nexus One owners of their choice of carriers.
Sprint and Verizon Wireless, which is jointly owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, are both pointing to their own Android devices as superior alternatives.
Vodafone last month began giving away Nexus One phones to UK customers who sign up for service plans and said that the phone would be available in stores–the first departure from the online-only approach Google took in the US.
