Google’s Nexus One Android smartphone device will soon be available to a wider audience. The phone, which was sold online without a contract, will become available at retail outlets carried by wireless providers, the company said.
Nexus One is manufactured by the Taiwanese owned HTC and was originally available in only four regions, the United States, the U.K., Singapore, and Hong Kong, exclusively through Google’s online store.
However, last Friday, May 14 Google Inc. announced that it will close its online store which was established to market its Nexus One phone, but now the Internet giant is opting to shift to traditional retail outlets to sell its product.
The initiative marks the end of Google’s attempt to develop a new sales model for the mobile industry, whereby its online store was supposed to be the only channel available to source the Nexus One smartphone. This move only confirms that that consumers were not enthusiastic about purchasing a phone that was available exclusively online, preventing any direct hands-on experience.
“As with every innovation, some parts worked better than others,” Andy Rubin, Google Engineering vice-president wrote in their official blog post. Rubin said Google will stop selling the Nexus One on its Web-based platform completely once conventional retailers have been properly set up for the American market.
BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said in an interview with BBC, “They clearly have retreated from the model of sort of revolutionizing the method in which we acquire our smartphones.”
Laptop Magazine referred to the move as a “lesson learned.”
Nexus One is just one of many different smartphones that operates Google Android operating system, which is meant to be the first free, open source, and fully customizable mobile operating system.
Nexus One is manufactured by the Taiwanese owned HTC and was originally available in only four regions, the United States, the U.K., Singapore, and Hong Kong, exclusively through Google’s online store.
However, last Friday, May 14 Google Inc. announced that it will close its online store which was established to market its Nexus One phone, but now the Internet giant is opting to shift to traditional retail outlets to sell its product.
The initiative marks the end of Google’s attempt to develop a new sales model for the mobile industry, whereby its online store was supposed to be the only channel available to source the Nexus One smartphone. This move only confirms that that consumers were not enthusiastic about purchasing a phone that was available exclusively online, preventing any direct hands-on experience.
“As with every innovation, some parts worked better than others,” Andy Rubin, Google Engineering vice-president wrote in their official blog post. Rubin said Google will stop selling the Nexus One on its Web-based platform completely once conventional retailers have been properly set up for the American market.
BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said in an interview with BBC, “They clearly have retreated from the model of sort of revolutionizing the method in which we acquire our smartphones.”
Laptop Magazine referred to the move as a “lesson learned.”
Nexus One is just one of many different smartphones that operates Google Android operating system, which is meant to be the first free, open source, and fully customizable mobile operating system.
