Google makes some tweaks to Nexus One pricing, offers some refunds

By on Jan 15, 2010 at 2:59 PM
Retail January 15, 2010

Ever since the Nexus One was announced by Google, many have marveled at the “revolution” in handset sales — no more carriers! However, it sparked a lot of confusion with contract-free pricing, commitment pricing, termination fees and other details. Google is finally setting the record straight. For unlocked devices, the price stays at $529, and for new T-Mobile customers it still goes for $179. However, the pricing for customers who were eligible for upgrade with data plans was set at a high $379. Quickly coming to its senses, Google slashed $100 off the price and it is now $279; the customers who paid the higher price will be given $100 back from Google.

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  • Fattychance

    Aren’t they all unlocked devices?

  • B

    What does being unlocked have to do with T-Mobile contract subsidizing/pricing?

  • JS

    Soooo…. If you already have a data plan the phone is $100 more expensive?

  • Macman

    Haha. There jumping off of there horse after realizing 20000 sold in a week is terrible. Stay tuned next week buy 1 get on free.

    • McHale

      what was Google really expecting when they launched their flagship device with the US’ 4th LARGEST CARRIER? That doesn’t even SOUND like it’s a good idea.

  • http://mswolfson.wordpress.com/ MIke Wolfson

    …and for those early adopters who bought the unlocked version?

    They better come up with something for the true fans who bought full-priced unlocked phones.

    I love the phone, but don’t love being made to feel like a sucker for supporting this as an early adopter.

    Better learn your lessons quickly Goog, you don’t have the luxury of a fanboi base like the “fruit” company. We will revolt!

    • Champ

      …you actually had to shorten Google to “Goog”? Really? I’m not so sure it’s “Goog” making you a sucker as much as yourself.

    • B

      True fans? LOL I’m so incredibly sick of people feeling this sense of entitlement. Everybody with a G1 wants special treatment for being an “early adopter.” Everyone who bought the Nexus at launch wants a pat on the back and a free Happy Meal. Nobody is forcing you to buy these devices early. Everything you do is on your own account. True fans haha. Get over it.

    • Carmen

      Whoa! Someone needs to look up the product lifecycle curve. Early Adopters always pay a premium because they have an emotional attachment to technology. $529 is actually an awesome price for that phone unsubsidized. IT HAS A 1Ghz PROCESSOR!!! Anyway, the price has stayed the same for the unsubsidized purchases. You either need to reread the article or just stop making purchasing decisions because you’re not capable. You have a choice to buy any phone you want and use it on any carrier that you want. Stop acting like a victim.

      Lastly, my response is all stemming from your jab at Apple. I just think it is so typical to make fun of Apple using claims that don’t even have any substance to them. You are even afraid to say Apple. Are you afraid that you’ll get hit with a libel lawsuit or something? Simply put, you are an idiot that doesn’t even know that he got a fair deal on a phone, and is complaining because you think that the price has dropped when it hasn’t. Americans should always buy phones subsidized when their contract obligations allow for it. It’s the only way to stay ahead of the game.

      • Carmen

        P. S. I love the term “revolt”. You mean nothing by that…and the threatening choice of word in your second sentence. What could you possibly do to Google?

    • Mike Caine

      You’re a true fan but not a fanboi?

      Spoken like a true fandroid

  • http://(null) Eric

    I read this yesterday.

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

  • 1jaxstate1

    Drop it to $300 unlocked, and I’ll get one.

  • Dax Mancotti

    It’s awesome that Google is just symantics for Government…

  • Biggles

    Now they just need to make some “tweaks to Nexus One carrier availability”. That’ll help boost sales numbers, not giving a discount to the minority that can tolerate a network with severely limited coverage.

  • Charles A

    So existing T-Mobile customers who are eligilble for the full $179 subsidy by T-Mobile standards are STILL shit outta luck? And those who ALREADY have data plans are STILL shit outta luck with pricing? And Google STILL won’t play ball with those who don’t have single line service (i.e Family plans etc.)? Way to half-ass take care of a problem Google.

    • B

      I don’t believe any existing customer was ever eligible for an upgrade price of $179. That is only for new customers/new lines. I have been out of contract since May of last year, and I still would have had to pay $379 if I hadn’t opened a new line. Google has their own ulterior motives, but I think the people who have had the most complaints about the situation have not done any work for themselves. T-Mobile has been more than willing to work with their customers in order to work around this lock-down that Google has imposed, especially if you are what is considered a loyal subscriber.

      • Charles A

        One customer service rep from T-Mobile hinted that I could cancel my service altogther, and they’d wave the ETF and I could sign up again as a nw customer and get the new customer $179 price. Don’t know that they could actually do that but it does sound tempting.

      • B

        What I did was buy the phone on a new line ($179), and had them set my account to automatically terminate my current line after my billing cycle is done. They still recognize me as a loyal customer and everything is done. You may want to look into it if you really want the phone at that price. The reps I spoke to are just as annoyed by Google as we are.

  • botdown

    Not impressed…they would need to cut the price in half for me to even consider buying it. Plus the ETF is crazy.

  • Nokia N900

    In more important news Nokia N900 just released an epic firmware.

    • B

      In even more important news, your post is irrelevant in the context of what every single other person in this article is replying to.

    • McHale

      Nokia is still around? I remember them…

  • Rich

    $399 unlocked would be a fairly sweet price point.

  • Barry

    My T-Mobile Biz Rep told me they plan on selling a version of the Bravo in the Spring (similar to Sweden) which they will fully subsidize.

    I may just wait for that model only because I’m not big on the trackball.. not ’cause they aren’t functional or anything like that… it’s just that they get discolored easily and make the phone look dirty.

  • Tim

    I honestly don’t understand how this is a new way to sell phones. It seems more like the original (and still the best!) way to sell phones – unlocked and without a contract.

    c.f. expansys.com

  • Samarcande

    It’s awesome that Google is just symantics for Government…
    http://webizland.blogspot.com

  • Brian

    Just for kicks I looked for the Nexus on ebay. They are going for over $600. Why in the world would anyone buy one on ebay when you can get it straight from Google for $530? Can someone explain that?

    • Rich

      My guess is because right now shipping is limited to a select few countries.

  • webby

    I have a friend who is interested in buying the N!, but he is stubborn — he is a longtime TMobile customer, out of contract, and won’t buy one until he can get it for $179.

    He is also waiting to make sure any 3G problems are fully resolved.

    I have a Droid, but if I were on T-Mobile, I wouldn’t buy the N1 yet either — don’t like the pricing, the distribution system, nor the 3G problems.

  • AB

    I just hope that when this device becomes available to the other carriers listed in spring 2010, they bring it down to just 2 prices: a contract price whether you’re eligible for your renewal or a brand new customer starting a contract, or full retail unlocked pricing. For those who are whining about 529.99 being an unfair price for non-contract, I challenge them to research how much a PDA or BB costs at full retail(not at sale price) to gain some perspective on how much a phone really costs w/out signing into a service agreement. 529 is pretty much in-line with full retail on your PDA’s on market right now.

    • Marcelo L

      Why is anyone who speaks negatively against this change in pricing being down-voted ? Some Google fanboi lurking or something ?

      Seriously. I’ve been with Big Magenta for almost 11 years, out of contract for 8 1/2 of that. I see ZERO reason why a new customer should be treated any better than a customer who’s stuck around with them for any reasonable length of time. If someone has a problem with that statement, tough, the truth hurts. Providing the best price only to “newcomers” is ridiculous. People aren’t stupid, they recognize that this quick shuffling on Google’s part is some ploy to try to salvage an ugly situation ( that they themselves created in the first place ). The RIGHT answer is to offer 2 prices…..ANYONE who’s looking to sign onto a new contract, and those who want to buy the phone outright. PERIOD. No guess work, no tricks.

      If Google REALLY wanted to change the game, then it wouldn’t have come up with a shell-game set of purchase options. Signing up to the new contract when you’re changing dataplans, and signing up for a new service is ZERO difference, because in either case, you’re having to commit to a 2 year contract. Anything else BUT that is a trickery. And at the heart of why I, and hundreds of others, put our signatures on that petition going around.

      That’s where you can put that $100 price drop. I have to pay $100 extra because I’m switching from my current unlimited wireless internet plan to the android plan ? Exactly what does that get me extra ? The APN’s are the same. The HSPA frequencies being shared are the same. Access to the Android Market ? Uh, hello, you’re going to earn revenue sharing from that. That’d be like having to pay to get into a supermarket to buy food. Yeah. The pricing is really equitable all around. Right.

  • Marcelo L

    I’ll go everyone 1 further…at current pace, there are over 1500 signatures on the petition ( http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?nexusone ) for Google to change their plans/pricing. So essentially for 100 people that purchased a Nexus One, there are 7.5 who didn’t. That number may not sound significant, BUT, given that there was nary a mention ( I think I even found the petition myself more by accident than anything else ) of it, I can only wonder how many more people held off purchasing because of how Google’s handled this.

    If I were to be generous to myself, and say half-again as many people as signed, DIDN’T purchase one, that would put us over 11% of people who might’ve, didn’t. And that, is proceeding through a single “retail” channel, i.e. google’s website.

    DROID got the build-up it did because it was not only known about months in advance, but more and more substantive information was put out about it ( despite all the tease videos about the phone on YouTube ). No body on the stature of Pogue, Mossberg or someone in similar standing really got to even whisper about it, so whatever anticipation there was, was limited strictly to fan-boy-dom.

    Statistically speaking, 20,000 sounds pretty low, but we haven’t seen a breakdown of that number yet. We need to see exactly how many were NEW subs, versus upgraders, versus unlocked buyers. I suspect that the numbers may look like an inverse bell curve, skewed highly in favor of new subs.

  • Mike D

    Can you really sell a lot of phones WITHOUT the ability to walk into a brick and mortar store and play with it / show it off? Over the holidays I went into a Verizon store for my wife’s phone and witnessed salesman after salesman sell the Droid to customers who didn’t even come into the store for such a device. They weren’t techies just ordinary folks. I suspect the 20,000 that bought the Nexus One were techies.

    I’d bet/hope it won’t be long before we see the Nexus One in stores WITH a lower price and looser restrictions for current T-Mo customers. If they don’t then it would be a shame because I think they have a great phone here.

  • http://www.berryaccessories.com Felix cogan

    I found the cheapest place to get this phone for international people !!!

    http://www.berryaccessories.com/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=455

  • Andy

    Cheap bastards.

  • itneversnowshere

    Ugh, why are people so on board the google train, that device looks like it can get burnt by sunlight… The screen is so dark you can’t see anything outside a dark room.

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