Nothing actually changed... [LWN.net]

Nothing actually changed...

Posted Aug 23, 2010 22:33 UTC (Mon) by bronson (subscriber, #4806)
In reply to: Nothing actually changed... by khim
Parent article: The dirty little secret about Google Android (ZDNet)

If the N1 cost $300, I would have bought it in a heartbeat. It's always been $530, was only available online and only on T-Mobile, was never really marketed, and had questionable return and cancellation policies. Google never gave it a chance.

That the N1 sold as well as it did is downright amazing. It shows that there are tons of Americans that are willing to give up convenience for a better, freer phone experience. If Google would release an N2, with better distribution and marketing, I think they would have a clear hit.

Alas, Google and Verizon appear to be best buddies these days. :(

Actually it's 100% backwards...

Posted Aug 25, 2010 6:37 UTC (Wed) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] (1 responses)

If the N1 cost $300, I would have bought it in a heartbeat. It's always been $530, was only available online and only on T-Mobile, was never really marketed, and had questionable return and cancellation policies. Google never gave it a chance.

Actually Google gave it all the chances it could: it price was the same as iPhone (for example is Russia they both will cost you about $650), it was available from independent sellers (Google in this case), etc. It was not sold below it's market price because only carriers can do this by compensating iPhone price with contract price. If people insist on phones sold by carrier rules they should not be surprised to get phones made by carrier rules - that's my point. And of course it's includes crapware and lockdown. The fact that Apple was able to replace carriers crap with it's own crap is kinda amazing but does not really change anything in the grand theme of things.

Alas, Google and Verizon appear to be best buddies these days. :(

I seriously doubt it. It's more like marriage of convenience. But well, if people will only consider buying phones sold by carrier's rules then it's good idea to not antagonize carriers. The biggest handset maker in the world (in all categories: dumbphones, freaturephones and smartphones) tried this - and what is the result. Once more: Google is many things, but Don Quixote it's not.

Actually it's 100% backwards...

Posted Aug 25, 2010 15:48 UTC (Wed) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link]

I gave a number of reasons the N1 failed other than price, ferinstance Apple's marketing and support was impeccable and Google's was nonexistent. I forgot to mention that Apple's appstore was easy to use and worked great while Google's Market didn't work at all in many (most?) foreign countries and had very unclear charging and return policies.

People are happy to buy phones from non-carriers, but they need to (a) know about them, (b) feel confident that they will work, and (c) if not, they can easily return them. This was certainly not the case with the N1. And that's 100% Google's fault.