Why a Google phone?
The launch of the Google phone has got a lot of attention. My first reaction to the rumors last autumn was “why”. Lot’s of handset manufacturers are releasing new handsets with Android. Why would Google risk reducing manufacturers incentives to make Android phones? I see two reasons:
- Secure overall user experience quality (solve a coordination problem by vertical integration)
- Change how mobile phones are sold in the US (first choose phone, then choose carrier and subscription)
Nexus One has a great screen and a fast processor. I expect that Google has focused on the overall user experience. Consequently, the device can serve as a best practice example for an Android device. Financial Times’ John Gapper describes how Apple is “half closed” and Google is “half open”. Even Google must compete with Apple’s user experience gurus.
Jon Stokes commented in Ars Technica that Google’s biggest announcement was not a phone, but a URL. As a Norwegian, it is easy to forget how different the US mobile phone market is from what I am used to. Mobile operators have almost turned complex price plans, phone subsidies and lock-in periods into an art to capture consumer surplus. Google is according to the article, the first carrier-independent smartphone store in the US. First you pick your phone, then you pick your carrier and subscription. It seems like a clear message from Google to the mobile operators: Guys, just compete on price/quality of wireless Internet access. Let us and others fix the rest.
