

Nexus One’s slow sales blamed on online-only strategy - ilamont
http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/03/16/nexus-ones-slow-sales-blamed-on-online-only-strategy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+%28VentureBeat%29

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araneae
Google was obviously marketing to other people who are like Googlers. We all
knew about the Nexus One (because we keep up on new tech), prefer T-Mobile
(because they were the only carrier to refuse to cooperate with warrant-less
wiretapping), and love to buy stuff online (because we hate going to the
mall).

But we're a pretty small portion of the market. If the wanted big commercial
success, they had to market to people who _weren't_ like them.

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stanleydrew
I'm not sure Google even cares. I don't think Google is trying to profit a
great deal directly from N1 sales. I think they win in the long run by pushing
android to be the best it can be and by making the entire mobile device market
more modular. Google's vision is to have your choice of device divorced from
your choice of carrier, which is divorced from your choice of phone number,
and all of it divorced from your choice of applications to run.

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jrockway
I am not sure that this is bad. 200,000 people are walking around with a $600
unlocked Linux phone. This is a major, major change in everything; open
software, carrier freedom, etc. Selling that many is quite surprising, in
fact.

When Google starts advertising and the price goes down to $99, and it doesn't
sell then, then you should be worried. But right now, Google is doing
everything possible to prevent people from even knowing about this thing --
and it's still selling well. When Google starts putting Android billboards on
every open space in a major city (as Apple does with iPhone advertising), then
you can start comparing it to the iPhone. But right now, this is an ultra-
niche product that normal people don't even know about.

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latch
Online-only strategy, lack of traditional advertising, lack of carrier choice,
US-only availability.

If you did a real survey asking what 'Android' or 'Nexus One' are, I'd be
curious to know how many knew (I'm guessing about 10%)

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yv
Ask them about Symbian. Symbian is by far the most popular smartphone
platform, but it's not a household name. It's just an OS - my mom doesn't even
know she needs one on her phone

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latch
But if you asked them to list cell/smart phone providers, they'd probably list
Nokia before Google.

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vetinari
I blame two things:

a) "Sorry, the Nexus One phone is not available in your contry or region"
message at google.com/phone,

and b) when it is available, it is €599 or (€199 + €45/mo for two years). When
I saw the ad, my first thought was "great, you get to keep it for yourself".
Outside of enthusiasts, no one is going to get phone for 600 euros.

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jrockway
_"Sorry, the Nexus One phone is not available in your contry or region"
message at google.com/phone_

And the Droid doesn't have this problem?

 _no one is going to get phone for 600 euros_

Except all the people that do? The original iPhone was this expensive and
didn't even have 3G. And yet people bought them in droves.

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vetinari
> And the Droid doesn't have this problem?

Yes, it does. But it is still more available than N1.

> Except all the people that do? The original iPhone was this expensive and
> didn't even have 3G. And yet people bought them in droves.

Original iPhone was $399 and $499. €599 is north of $800, thats more than 1/3
more expensive. And I also remember that the original iPhone was met with
collective yawn on this side of pond and almost nobody bought unsubsidized.

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yason
I don't think Google is in any way in a hurry. They'll just want to see where
it's going first, while cumulating momentum. A sudden disruption in the
smartphone market wouldn't be feasible nor useful: similarly they kept Gmail
invite only until they felt confident enough that they've learned enough from
the early users.

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aduric
I agree. This fits in very nicely with their release early and iterate model.
If it works for software, why not hardware as well. I'm surprised they didn't
call it Nexus Beta.

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nexneo
I hope this is last post regarding Nexus One's slow sales in first 2 months.
It doesn't matter.

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martythemaniak
Another way to look at it is that the Nexus One can be successful if they want
it to be a Halo product - ie, it is meant to be a showcase of Android and to
get people talking about it, then leaving other companies to move a massive
number of units. It also makes sense in that it won't upset their partners
very much.

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samd
How can you blame one thing on the slow sales when there are so many
confounding factors?

If a lack of in-store sales is the primary culprit that means that hundreds of
thousands of people show up at the store having never heard of the
iPhone/Droid/N1 and end up buying it. I highly doubt that's the case. People
go to the store to try/buy a smartphone they've already heard of elsewhere. If
Google had spent more money marketing the N1 their sales would've been better.
Also, their timing was awful.

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e40
I wanted an N1, but got a Droid instead. I had 30 days to return it to the VWZ
store and exchange it _on the spot_ if it was defect or I didn't want the
phone.

I could also try the phone in the store before buying it, to make sure I liked
it enough to warrant a 30-day trial.

The N1 will never do as well as the in-store phones. Eventually, google will
understand this and release it to the stores. Until then, it will sell very
slowly.

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orangecat
_The N1 will never do as well as the in-store phones._

Right, and they may not care. The main purpose of the N1 may be a warning to
carriers that they can't cripple their phones too much because there will
always be an open alternative.

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ilamont
Google can afford to iterate, or fail. It's actually quite liberating, as some
experiments/acquisitions manage to make some respectable headway over time
(Android) while the others are left to languish (Knol) or are cut when it's
clear the product or the market aren't promising (Lively).

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ars
Would it not be possible for google to sell this at BestBuy and the like? I
bet even WalMart would be willing to sell it.

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melling
Doesn't this all become irrelevant later this month when Verizon starts
selling the phone?

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scotty79
Does Google advertise Nexus One at all?

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theBobMcCormick
I believe there's occasional small ads for it on the Google home page.

