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Jan
18
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Here are five reasons I figure Google’s gonna kill the Nexus One and their entire cell phone sales business sometime this year or next.
1. Retailing hardware isn’t what business Google is in. Since Plato’s times, men have known that specialization is key to economic success, and while most giant corporations have a hard time keeping focus on their core competencies, Google’s not most giant corporations.
This company is in the business of creating software and internet platforms; not a hardware company. They’re quickly being reminded that they need to let Hewlett-Packard, HTC and Motorola make the hardware while Google focuses on their unique ability to build eco-systems (from Gmail to Google Maps to Android) that we then build on top of with apps and other technologies that connect us and deliver information, entertainment and services.
2. They don’t wanna compete against their partners. Somewhat related to the above point of focusing on core competencies, Google runs the risk of making their partners like the aforementioned HTC and Motorola worry that Google pulls what Apple did to Motorola a few years ago when they jointly released the ROKR with iTunes integrated only to see Apple quickly kill the deal and then use what they learned from the joint venture to start and build their own phone. Apple, of course, already was in the hardware biz and was planning all along to put the screw on Motorola and any other hardware vendor.
Google will quickly lose support from other handset makers if they continue to give their own Nexus one model Android’s operating system features that its partners can’t get.  It ain’t worth it.
3. Google’s damaging its brand name. I mean, what’s with the lousy customer service they’re providing to people paying a huge premium for a phone model that might or might not even be around in a year. We’ve all seen the articles about how badly Google’s muffing their customer service for this phone….and Google’s seemingly turning a blind eye towards the outrage.
Wanna get someone on the phone to help you with your Verizon Blackberry? Hit *611 and you’ll be talking to someone within a few minutes. Wanna get someone on the phone to help you with your Google Nexus One?
4. The Nexus One is a stupid name anyway. I mean, come on: iPhone or Nexus One (wait, or was it Nexus Six? Or was that a place on Star Trek?).
iPhone, Nexus One, iPhone Nexus One — come on, Google what the hell were you thinking calling your one and only maiden launch of a hardware device a Nexus One?
5. The cell phone business will hurt Google’s gross margins. If the Nexus One is to truly become a huge hit, two things will happen: its price would drop as volumes surge and it would become an increasigly larger part of Google’s revenue sources.
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