What was it trying to achieve?
Back at the start of the year, Google unveiled its first own-branded (albeit manufactured by HTC) mobile phone - the Nexus One. While the launch of the phone itself was a big deal, of potentially greater significance was the creation of a new, direct sales channel through which to sell it.
Google decided to use the strength of its web presence to sell the Nexus One direct to end-users, online and SIM-free. The thinking seemed to be that Google could shake-up the mobile phone market by giving end-users an alternative to being tied-in to long operator contracts, although they would still have to get their mobile data from somewhere and Google was also going into partnership with some operators.
At the time we not only question how innovative this move was - with there being many SIM-free mobile handset etailers on the web already - but how wise it was for Google to antagonise the established mobile phone industry at a time when it was looking to drive adoption of its Android OS.
It also seemed a bit of a half-hearted effort. Google simply created a URL through which people could buy the phone direct and waited to see if they would. There was very little marketing or follow-up. Low and behold, after a week it looked like Google had only shifted a few thousand.
On Friday Google announced it was calling the whole direct channel experiment off. Engineering VP Andy Rubin blogged: "While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not. 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 choose from."
So, essentially, it's back to plan A. Such has been the limp effort Google has put behind the Nexus One, we have to wonder what the point of it was. It always seems like Google had put itself in an untenable position of competing with its own Android partners, and that worked both ways, with HTC subsequently launching Android handsets that inevitably took sales away from the Nexus one. As an exercise in generating buzz around Android, however, it must be viewed as a success.
Incidentally we popped into our local Vodafone shop at the weekend, which was heavily promoting the Nexus One and had a chat with the sales assistant. Apparently end-users only want to know about smartphones these days, with the iPhone, the HTC Desire and Legend and certain BlackBerrys being pretty much all punters are asking about. He had yet to see much interest in the Sony Ericsson Experia X10 yet and the Nexus One seems to be being eclipsed by other HTC phones.
