Android App Market Hits Milestone: 50K Apps
Boy Genius Report says that AndroLib is claiming that available Android apps number over 50,000 now. AndroLib tracks these sorts of figures. Google says they know of roughly 40K. So Android is catching up to Apple’s iPhone OS fairly quickly.
Still, the Apple App Store has over 185,000 apps, and now there are also iPad-specific apps. What’s more, the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 has some killer features, so I think it’ll be a while before Apple has to worry.
Via Boy Genius Report, The Next Web.
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Walmart to Release the Nexus One for $99
Over at Walmart’s Online site, specifically under its Wireless section, a new product page showed up announcing the Google Nexus One. While it may not be impossible for Walmart to release the Nexus One soon, what is more interesting as noted by AndroidandMe is that it may be released not only under a Verizon contract but AT&T as well.
While Google may have previously announced that it is also planning to release Nexus One under Verizon, what was not announced though is the AT&T version.
The blog post also cited another blog reporting that Walmart might offer the Nexus One for $99 under a 2-year service contract. What is not clear is whether Walmart was able to negotiate a lower price with Google , if indeed the rumor is true. As you all know, the Nexus One is available under T-Mobile for $179.
Again, these are both unofficial and does not really came from Google. Although we could not discount the fact that Google might resort to this plan to increase the Nexus One’s userbase. If indeed the $99 Nexus One is true, those who have not yet bought the phone should start hoping that Google will also reduce T-Mobile’s offering price for the phone.
So, what do you think? Will this push through or not?
Google Nexus One Hands-On, First Impressions and Photos
You’ve probably read tons of Google Nexus One coverage from those who got it a day or two after it was released by Google. So, pardon me for posting this late since I just received my Google Nexus One a couple of hours ago. Being in a non-supported country, my Google Nexus One arrived 10 days after I ordered it, which was actually the day after it was announced. After going through some work-around, I finally did it – ordered my Google Nexus One, and waited impatiently for it to arrive. And so it did.
So, after practically using no other phone the the iPhone for two years, I’m so glad that the Google Nexus One runs almost the same as the iPhone. I mean, the interface is almost identical. The touchscreen feature, the apps screen and the display resolution make the iPhone and Google Nexus One almost like siblings.
But of course there differences. And based on a few hours of using it, I came up with a conclusion. If you have to compare the Google Nexus One and the iPhone using the usual mobile phone brands, I would have to say that if the iPhone is the Nokia of smartphones, the Google Nexus One can be considered as the Sony Ericsson. In other words, the Google Nexus One is geared more for the tech-savvy mobile phone users.
Aside from the looks, what more can I say about the Google Nexus One? Oh yes, the Android OS is simply fantastic. It’s fast, lightweight and plain straight-out mobile phone OS. Being an iPhone user for two years, did I find any difficulty learning the ins and outs of the Android-powered Nexus One? None.
Using the Nexus One for the first time is a breeze. Nothing difficult about it. Although, I’m not pretty sure how it fares when it comes to tinkering and tweeking. That’s what I’m going to do next. Will post a review of the Google Nexus One after I’ve used it for a couple of days.
In the meantime, check this site if you want to see some more photos of the Google Nexus One.
Google Sold Only 20,000 Nexus One Units
According to analytics firm, flurry.com, Google was able to sell only 20,000 units of Nexus One during the first week after it was released. So, if you bought the Nexus One, consider yourself lucky because your unit belongs to the first 20,000 Nexus One units sold.
But that is not the story of this blog post. We are here to tell you that considering that we’re talking about Google’s supposed “first phone” and also its very first attempt on selling a mobile phone, that 20,000 units sold is way too low. And we’re not even comparing the Nexus One first week sale to the figures of other “celebrated” smartphones. These incude the iPhone 3GS, Motorola DROID and myTouch 3G.
Flurry’s report was based on its monitoring of the usage of more than 10,000 developer applications on Android platforms. It tracks more than 25 million end user sessions per month, and part of that 25 million are actual Nexus One users.
Now here is what we can’t help but do anyway . Comparing Nexus One’s first week sale to its competitors. 1.5 million units of iPhone sold, 250,000 for the Motorola DROID and 60,000 for the first Android phone, the MyTouch 3G. And so with those unit sales, it seems that Google sold very few Nexus Ones units.
Is it a failure? Well, if those numbers are just your basis, well then Google failed. But then, there are other things to consider. Google’s marketing strategy is one of them. The decision to sell the Nexus One on their own, from their site is probably working against Google. Or perhaps, there would be more buyers if Google release the phone to other countries.
Yes, it’s too early to tell and to judge whether Google on its latest undertaking. For me, it’s a consolation that I belong to the group of owners who bought the first generation Nexus One. And that is despite the issues and problems reported by other users.
Google Nexus One Problems Escalate
It’s barely a week since Google Nexus One was released and made available to consumers from the U.S., U.K., Hong Kong and Singapore. Some early users have already posted their reviews of the Nexus One. They are varying reviews, I should say. But perhaps what’s appaling right now is the number of Nexus One users who are experiencing several issues with their units.
And who do they turn to? Actually it’s a vague area, somewhat pretty confusing. Let’s lay down the facts.
Google Nexus One was manufactured by HTC but distributed by Google from its online web store. If it were an ordinary mobile phone, once the manufacturer has released the phone to its distributor, usually cellular network provider, the after sales support is transferred to the mobile carrier.
But in the case of the Nexus One, HTC has already released the units to Google and Google has released them either as unlocked units or under T-Mobile service plan.
For those who bought the T-Mobile version, their in luck because T-Mobile has the responsibility to act upon issues and complaints. Although there are reports that customers are being passed on back and forth, to and from by both HTC and T-Mobile who don’t want to take responsibility.
Those who bought the unlocked versions were not luckier as well. Google accepts only complaints by email. And some were already disgruntled by the lack of response from Google.
What are the complaints? Several issues were raised at the Google Help Forum. But the most prominent of these issues seems to be the malfunctioning 3G connectivity. HTC even admitted the indeed there is a problem with this feature.
What Now?
For a first time distributor of a mobile phone, Google’s failing mark may seem understandable – first time jitters, so they would say. But then, come to think of it, Google is not a start-up. It’s a big company, as big if not bigger than Apple, which also happens to have other products – not just the iPhone.
If Apple can handle after sales support for the iPhone, there’s no reason why Google couldn’t. Or was it because of lack of preparation on Google’s part?
But if you’re a company as big as Apple, it is not a reason for failure. Ops, Nexus One may not be failing yet, but with the way things are going on, it just might be heading towards that direction.
So, have you decided whether you are going to buy the Google Nexus One? Or you just did?
Should You Get a Google Nexus Phone?
Are you thinking of getting a new Google Nexus One Android smartphone? Should you?
Right now, there’s of course a ton of coverage about Google’s new “iPhone killer,” which most article headlines suggest really isn’t an iPhone killer. It’s apparently a great phone, with features the iPhone doesn’t have, but it may not live up to its hype, and some feel the phone is not revolutionary. The phone’s existence might actually hurt the Android platform.
Then again, Google seems to be going to great lengths to accommodate both carriers and Android handset manufacturers. Isn’t that revolutionary when they’re up against the iPhone’s more closed business model? Google is also willing to sell jailbroken Nexus phones to the consumer.
Now the Nexus One may have a small amount of storage capacity, but up against iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre and Motorola Droid, it has the lowest cost of ownership. But with Apple’s lead of three billion apps downloaded, how will Google catch up if Nexus One customers can’t get a phone delivered to the right address.
Now if you’re one of the many happy iPhone users that’s actually considering switching over to the Nexus One, you might want to read Google’s Scott Knaster’s tips for doing just that.