Google Nexus One sold directly and only by Google, officially supported by T-Mobile

By on Dec 29, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Exclusive December 29, 2009

tmo-google-nexus

Interesting. It looks like Google won’t be entirely shaking up any wireless industries at the present time, but it will be pushing forward with its own “flagship” device by selling it directly to consumers. While our connect’s internal T-Mobile photo is rather small, we’ve broken down the text for you:

Google, with support from T-Mobile, is scheduled to launch a new Android device in early January. The Google Android phone will be sold directly by Google via the Web.

Support for the device including troubleshooting and exchanges will be managed by Google and HTC. T-Mobile will offer service support including billing, coverage, features, and rate plans. Additional details Streamline content regarding the launch of Google’s Android phone will be coming in early January.

So… Google is simply selling the phone directly for now, as rumored, and T-Mobile will “officially” support it, even though they practically do the same for any unlocked handset on their network. Google and HTC will be fielding support calls from users, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. Unless this is only the Android Development 3 phone. But it’s not just that. And T-Mobile could possibly subsidize it in or around March. Ok, bye.

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  • Gina D

    I’m really digging the new style of support.

    Let Google or HTC assist with warranties and support. Let T-Mobile handle the billing part. That’s how it should be.

    Verizon will never allow this to happen. They want to control the entire mobile ecosystem. They are terrified of becoming a dumb data pipe.

    A couple of years ago, Verizon really wanted to control the phone down to the UI. They told us what we can see or not see. They told us what we can download or purchase. They are really big control freaks.

    To be honest, they’ve done well for themselves. They are sitting in billions of annaul revenue and want more. But the tides are slowly changing. I’m glad T-Mobile is being at the forefront of what I see is an industry wide change of tides.

    It will take a while for this style to sink into American consumer mindsets, but slowly and surely it will. Your wireless phone company is a utility (just like your electric /gas / water) and should be nothing more. We can buy our own phones wherever we want to and use them appropriately.

    Now that Moto has successfully created a quad band UMTS chip, I expect more phones to support all NAM 3G frequencies. That will at least stop the AT&T crowd from bitching and moaning that they can’t have the iPhone and the Nexus One.

    • SomeYoungGuy

      Why can’t I have the iPhone, Nexus one, and Droid!?!?!?
      :)

    • Mrwirez

      @ Gina D,
      Yesss… I want a Big Fat Data Pipe, and unlocked phones.. Screw these corporate pirates. How is it I can get UNLIMITED everything on my cable wire for 42.00/month and not on my phone? Hell FIOS is way more labor intensive and it is $50/month for a fiber optic line to my house… They are pretty much the same company…Verizon. Maybe this IS a good move. If anyone can shake em up it’s Google… They march to their own beat.

  • G-Fizzle

    I think it’s about time. Google has been puting out a lot of Android Phones lately… I’m starting to think that they should start their own cell phone carrier company and murder the competition with Android.

  • http://whyattsucks.com ATT SUCKS

    My name is AT &T and I work only from 10 AM to 5 PM.
    I have the best phone in the world on the worst network in the universe. I suck my customers with all their $$$ but i dont give a damn about them. Because they have no choice.

    I love AOL because they acted like us exactly 10 years ago. I want to go the AOL way in 3 years. I love my life.

  • victoria

    Not only that, on January 5, behold BIG G will teach us the beauty behind the android devices that
    are getting rampant for the next decade. All of our questions will surely be put to rest with this one.
    More details: http://bit.ly/google-phone-android-conference

    As for the post, wow Tmo really nailed AT&T.. :D

  • Teddy

    Just in time. I was ready to get a myTouch 3G.

    I’m ready to leave my POS Samsung Behold.

  • http://www.thenetworkgarden.com Mark Sigal

    Watching Android rollout to date, I am left with two conflicting data points. One, is that everyone I talk to within Google is supremely confident that the data (that they are looking at) suggests that they are poised to win in the market. Two, I am confused relative to the ‘battles’ and ‘war’ analogy, what is the battle they are fighting and what is the war that they expect to win.

    By that, I mean at this stage they are not in the same league to win the potential iPhone buyer, as Android lacks on hardware design, developer tools, media, apps momentum and marketplace.

    Yet, based upon RIM’s last quarter, it’s not like they are taking share from the Blackberry. Hence, best guess is that they are REALLY going after the Nokia and Symbian ecosystem, which is fine and logical, as it represents a comparable structure in terms of variety of device form-factors, multi-carrier approach and Nokia/Symbian has a dispirited developer base, so low hanging fruit.

    The only paradox is that to win that audience, you can’t be effectively competing with the handset guys (i.e., Motorola, HTC, Samsung, LG) in either soft or hard form (by anointing a preferred device/partner or formally branding, marketing a Google device). Yet, to not do so is to guarantee that the distance between iPhone and Android only grows.

    Personally, I think that they have misread the market, and face a choice between a fragmented market or abandoning their open credo and trying to go toe-to-toe with Apple in areas that Google hasn’t proven to be strong at; namely, hardware design, user experience, developer tools, etc.

    For more fodder on this one, here is a post that I wrote called:

    Android, Inevitability and the Dawn of Mobile: 

    http://bit.ly/87URNI

    Check it out, if interested.

    Mark

    • John Doe

      @Mark Sigal

      android is taking customers from all fronts. Including iphone and blackberry. Right now the iphone is the top smart phone…so thats what tech fans bought. They arent iphone owners becuase they like the iphone, they are iphone owners because they like “the best”. Android is the new “best” and they will move to android.

      • http://www.thenetworkgarden.com Mark Sigal

        @John Doe, if that’s your real name ;-) usually in pursuing a market penetration strategy, you have a segmentation focus that drives your tactical decisions. While it may be sorta true to say they are capturing slices here and there, that’s scattershot, and not a good long term strategy since each segment has it’s own competitors, channels, ecosystem, etc. that must be cared and fed for. In other words, when you say customers want “the best,” you have to answer the WHO to know the WHAT (product, solution wise). Otherwise, you end up with a bunch of ingredients but no compelling recipes or dining experience, using a restaurant analogy.

    • Peter

      Dear Mark,

      it is great to read such a profound analysis including your blog post, even if it reads a bit biased towards the iPhone. I agree that for most non tech users the iPhone still delivers due to their simple UI and iTunes integration. But this all comes with a price – Apple decides where you buy your media, they decide who is your carrier and they decide which apps are in and which are out (and many more small details). For tech oriented people the lack of customization options is also a bit boring after a while. WinMo has been a playingground for that, but compared to the iPhone they really are a usability disaster. So Android now at least offers that part with a far superior usability and spped compared to WinMo. I trust it is great to have the choice and Android offers just that to consumers. Who will eventually win? Noone – since this “battle” never ends and even competitors like Symbian could surprise with a new approach and then be first based on their already broad userbase. Time will tell – til then we enjoy the race and pick our favorites.

  • Tyler

    I love AT&T because of the iPhone!

    • tyler

      yeah i should of guessed someone would of took my screen name and do a fake post.i like the iphone but in no regard do i like att.

  • joshua

    i too love AT&T because of the iPhone, and the fact that i ALWAYS have full coverage in my town a usually 2 mbps download speeds(:

    this handset is BORING and so is android, why the fuck do so many people care ?!

  • Timmay
  • Dale McNamee
  • http://bilgili.web.tr murat

    thanks that good
    Bilgi|Maxi|td

  • mike

    VerizonWireless is getting a new Android phone from HTC also in early 2010. My source wasn’t sure if it was a “direct from Google” or just a newer HTC running Android 2.0. However those that have seen it say it is faster than the Motorola Droid but with the cute rounded “fit in your hand” HTC design. sorry – I think the moto droid looks and feels like a brick, apparently I’m not alone given the latest set of Droid ads (“it wasn’t meant to be pretty, it’s a robot!” – insert Bill Cosby .. “Riiight! who is this really?!”)

    I’ve played with the iPhone – just pick it up and you can quickly understand how it works. My brother let me try his droid.. I had to ask how to make a call. And it was impossible to zoom in on a webpage to click a hyperlink without fat fingering the whole page. Apple still excels at UI and form/fit design. Google is still using old browser UI technology – they build great technology but lack UI design and aesthetics. Even Palm Pre is better. Personally I like the open dev toolkit for Android (although Palm has made theirs available too)…. and that’s what I want because I’m a software developer and want to play. iPhone is too locked for me.

    VZW is also getting some kind of Palm Pre (and that other Palm one too). I say “some kind” because VZW likes to make it unique to them… but it’s a Pre.

    sorry I can’t remember the code words for the phones.

    I’m waiting for the Pre or HTC Droid 2.0 to come out (supposed to be in mid-Jan 2010) and I’ll buy one. many friends have the Pre and love it (great UI), and my brother likes his moto Droid – esp the camera and video but finds the poor web browser zoom VERY frustrating.

    Droid, Wave, and Voice… what is the killer app going to be?

  • http://nexuscellphone.com Stan

    Didn’t think it would be just T Mobile.

  • http://geniusphones.blogspot.com @iphonegs

    here’s a 10 minute video of the Nexus one… this maybe the iphone Killer http://geniusphones.blogspot.com/2009/12/nexus-one-10-minute-video-official.html

  • http://www.thefamilylawyers.com.au/ reanlen

    wow, google do niubility, nice shot

  • T

    Really? So T-Mobile is, all of a sudden, larger than Vodafone internationally? When did that happen? They must’ve added 300 million customers to make up that gap between them overnight, which doesn’t even include Verizon’s 90 million customers. They must’ve done something to overcome the 71 countries they operate in, because last I checked they only existed in 11 countries.

    Puzzling, indeed.

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