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by megablast 5786 days ago
Did it really try? Did it spend any money on advertising? Did it give the project a chance to succeed? Did it push back at the carriers?

Blame the market all you want, but if Google aren't even going to inform the majority, that ain't the markets fault.
2 comments
etherael 5786 days ago
I saw a ridiculous ton of hype for the phone both prior to and after the release of the phone, but I acknowledge that may well be due to the fact that I look in all the places likely to make a huge fuss over such a device.

On the carrier front though, retail stores that were actually marketing to end users, I guess this is as good an illustration of my point as any;

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/11/nexus_one_sales/

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megablast 5786 days ago
Well of course, do did I, so did most people here. We read tech blogs a lot. Most people in the world do not.
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eli 5786 days ago
Advertising? No, it was just a bad idea.

The full-price Nexus One was hundreds of dollars more than a subsidized phone from your carrier. And since you usually pay the same per month whether you take their subsidy or not, it was not a smart financial decision to buy a Nexus One for the overwhelming majority of customers.

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nhooey 5777 days ago
I can't believe nobody else mentioned this sooner or that you haven't received many more points for your comment.

Most people don't even think about the fact that they're locked into a contract for 2+ years (in the US), they just think about how the other phones are cheaper. But even for the people who consider the costs of being locked in, they can see that not being locked in provides little advantage.

If the entire market wasn't locked in to their contract, and could trivially take their phone number with them, they would have maximum provider mobility and the competition would get steep. If only a few people do this, it won't actually improve service or make the companies willing to adjust prices to keep these specific customers.

I'm not sure how the market came to this in North America and other select places, but I can see how it's going to be very hard for it to change.

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