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Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to ban inflation-related rises in phone and broadband contracts. Instead, it says any potential mid-contract price rises should be set out in pounds and pence.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
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Opinion Articles

Friday, May 7, 2010

Google Nexus One: quarterback or cheerleader?

Mark Bridge writes:

Four months ago, Google unveiled a new way for consumers to buy an Android mobile phone. In fact, that’s pretty much what the first line of the press release said. The phone was the Nexus One and it was being sold online by Google.

You could buy it SIM-free or you could buy it with a contract – but you’d be buying it from Google’s online shop. You couldn’t buy it on a real high street.

But now that’s all changed. First came the announcement that Vodafone UK would be selling the phone themselves from the end of April – and now from today Phones 4U is also selling the Nexus One.

Google isn’t describing this as any kind of turnaround or failure. When it’s talked about the situation it’s said it’s doing this to get more Nexus One phones to more people more quickly. Which, of course, you might think it could have done by working more closely with those channels in the first place.

So what’s happened?  Is this all about shifting more devices?  Well, Google’s never said the Nexus One was going to be a big seller, which is just as well because reports suggest that Google is still a long way off hitting a million units. Goldman Sachs said in March it now estimated 1 million units for this year, having previously anticipated 3½ million.

Okay – so is it an admission that networks know best?  They’ve got the end-to-end infrastructure in place, which is a pretty big contrast with the online-only customer service offered when the Nexus One was launched. That didn’t go down well with quite a few buyers.

Is it part of a realisation that Google really doesn’t want to be seen as a rival to mobile manufacturers and networks? As CEO Eric Schmidt said at Mobile World Congress, it wants to work with them.

Or is it none of these – and is it instead a genuine success as an ambassador for the Android operating system?  Google says the Nexus One has been profitable – and since it went on sale, Android’s share of the US and UK smartphone markets has picked up pretty dramatically.

Over here, GfK Retail and Technology says the proportion of Android phones sold on pay monthly contracts rose from 3% to over 12% during a recent four week period. Okay, that’s just four weeks – but it could be a sign that the Nexus One isn’t what we thought it was. Perhaps (to use an analogy from American Football) it was never going to be a star quarterback. Perhaps it was only ever intended to be a cheerleader.

 

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1 comments on article "Google Nexus One: quarterback or cheerleader?"

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James Rosewell

5/10/2010 7:24 AM

Google want to have a "best practice" reference implementation of the Android operating system that they're in control of in order to showcase their services. Against this objective the Nexus One has been very good. It's a shame they've not updated it with some of the new services the HTC Desire Android implementation has such as an Activesync enabled calendar and scrolling wallpaper.

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