I believe the creation of a defacto branded Google Phone with the Nexus One was a misstep both for Android & Google itself.
I have been an early supporter of Android as the young upstart open mobile platform versus the Apple iPhone backed by major mobile players in the Open Handset Alliance, principally Google.
I just want to be sure this leader of the mobile rebel alliance does not become Darth Vader or to another extreme an Edsel.
First, I understand Google is in it to make money by providing a “free” service in order to make money in the back end with advertising, so yes a Trojan horse approach while circumspect to it evolving into the Borg.
Google has tried to ally the Borg feeling with its “Don’t Be Evil” credo which every person I met from Google seems to embody, be it Romain Guy & Jean-Baptiste Quero of the Android team to the head of webspam, Matt Cutts.
So the Google Phone announcement was perhaps a premature disrobing of a wolf in sheep’s clothing to both the handset makers & mobile service providers that are the vast majority of the Open Handset Alliance itself.
*** Chris DiBona, the open source manager at Google, stated what may have been the true purpose of Google publicly forcing a phone out under their brand as a play for more developers, “This is going to sound really cynical, but the only thing that really matters is how many of these we ship – how many Android phones. There is a linear relationship between the number of phones you ship and the number of developers.” ***
The key growth statement from the Google Android Press Gathering last week was the fact a year ago Android was one phone on one network in one country & one language but fast forward to today, its 20 phones on 59 carriers in 48 countries & 19 languages.
While the Nexus One is a great phone that can make plausible arguments at being better than the iPhone I would not say it was revolutionary nor what I would consider worth the moniker of a Google SuperPhone.
A true SuperPhone would have NO dependence on ANY mobile service provider – That solution may reside in white spaces with VoIp service as I touched upon at SES Chicago in a WebProNews interview from early December 2009.
Not only that but the blowback in supporting a branded GooglePhone gets confusing and frustrating since Google is the one directly selling it online while its actually made by HTC and serviced predominantly by T-Mobile.
Perhaps Google thought what it called the Superphone wouldn’t need much support.
Then compounding the support issues are the double termination fees, buggy 3G service & $174 worth of parts in the Nexus One which together builds into the animosity against both the Google brand & the growth of Android.
I almost wish the genie was put back in the lamp with the Nexus One simply being the HTC Passion, but it seems Google wanted to prempt both CES & the next iPhone launch to get public attention toward Android.
I agree the public should be aware of Android but not sure Android is truly ready for the GENERAL public yet.
So even with this misstep, I agree with TechCrunch that Android can maintain a path toward becoming the defacto standard for mobile phones in the near future – Enter the Borg
The GooglePhone Nexus One Was a Google Android Misstep
Post from: Google And Blog
