A New Era Of Mobile Phone Buying?

[phandroid]

In the Q&A, Andy Rubin just suggested that he doesn’t think people will abandon their current mechanism of purchasing phones. But Andy just seems like the nice guy that doesn’t like confrontation… in reality he expects their latest announcement to be a disruption to the industry.Want proof? Check out the Official Google Blog where [...]

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[sooper_droid12]

I don't think it will revolutionize phone buying. There are a lot of people that still want to test, touch and play with a phone before buying it. It's the hype-driven, band wagoners that jump on new technology, sight unseen. This is why some have wondered why Google won't join forces with a retailer like Best Buy to sell their phone. But Google is all about cloud, internet, etc. So, it seems like they're just trying to popularize selling unlocked phones. I don't know... I don't think it's revolutionary.

Like I said, I was hoping for gVoice+Gizmo5, free voice for everyone. THAT would have turned the industry on its butt. It would have fundamentally shifted how carriers structure their plans. It would have lowered voice plans, which are ALREADY ridiculously overpriced. It would have moved people to data. That's what I was hoping for...

Overall, today was a disappointment. I could care less about "voice" integration with text-to-speech. That's been out there. The implementation is not revolutionary. They actually spent a good portion of the event showing off animated wallpaper!!! Really!? Is that going to get Apple shaking in their boots? Leaves falling into water?

 

[qsoundrich]

They should cut service contracts back to 1 year, they would sell a lot more units that way. And it's not likely they would lose customers, since everyone who wants a smart phone will have one.

 

[P-Droid]

I'm seeing a LOT of T-mobile customers not getting the upgrade price through the google web store. It's a mess.

 

[blinky]

This is true, but I do like the fact that Google's phone is significantly cheaper than the iPhone.

 

[SimonSays]

I don't think it will revolutionize phone buying. There are a lot of people that still want to test, touch and play with a phone before buying it. It's the hype-driven, band wagoners that jump on new technology, sight unseen. This is why some have wondered why Google won't join forces with a retailer like Best Buy to sell their phone. But Google is all about cloud, internet, etc. So, it seems like they're just trying to popularize selling unlocked phones. I don't know... I don't think it's revolutionary.

Many, if not most people agree with you, which is why Google is pulling this experiment People originally said the same thing about online retailing in general.

The whole thing is an exercise designed to show that American customers are willing to shop for smartphones in such a format. Obviously the current implementation isn't all that practical with only one phone and one carrier available, along with the fact that unlocked phones are limited due to the different mobile communications standards in the US. However, when all the major carriers make the change over to LTE Google's phone market will really be able to show off its potential. By getting into the game early, google can work out the bugs out of its store, get through a couple iterations to smooth things out, and be in a position to really change the cell phone market and throw up a real challenge to carrier exclusivity.

The point of the nexus one clearly isn't to sell as many phones as possible, Andy Rubin said earlier today that he thinks they can sell 150,000 N1s this year, which is a far cry from the million or so Droids sold in the past 2 months.

 

[Jayziac]

The main point of this whole fiasco is that Google is nudging people to buy unlocked phones in the U.S. But since cellphone technology here is fragmented (vs GSM worldwide), it is making less of a splash. I'm betting that some smaller Chinese manufacturers will be able to push out cheaper truly global Android GSM phones (w/ HW chips that handle GSM voice + 3G data anywhere in the world). The "Apanda A80" is rumored to be such an upcoming device.

 

[splenditello]

yeah, asking people to commit to specific carriers is going to end up screwing a lot of businesses

 

[blinky]

Well, think about it like this. If you get the Nexus One on a T-mobile plan, and then you cancel the plan, the cancellation fees + the lower cost of the phone = the cost of buying the phone unlocked. So, why even bother buying the phone with a plan

Just buy it unlocked. And go with any voice/data plan from any GSM carrier.