Google’s ‘Superphone’ with Android 2.1 now here

A superphone it may be but until I get my hands on one I’ll have to wait and see. The announcement earlier today from Google touted:

… a new way for consumers to purchase a mobile phone through a Google hosted web store. The goal of this new consumer channel is to provide an efficient way to connect Google’s online users with selected Android devices. We also want to make the overall user experience simple: a simple purchasing process, simple service plans from operators, simple and worry-free delivery and start-up.

Hang on a minute. I thought they were going to announce a new Google Phone… The G-Phone… Something that was blue and shaped like a giant ‘G’….

Ok I digress a little (and I just wasted 10 minutes in Photoshop), but there was a new phone behind the press release – it’s called the Nexus One.

The Nexus One is being manufactured by HTC. Google has a nice website for the phone, intuitively at www.google.com/phone. The phone is equipped with a 5mp camera, LED flash, video capture, 3.7″ display, micro SD slot and the Android 2.1 operating system, and it looks pretty neat. I’m just not sure what they are going to call their next phone.

One thing’s for sure, Andoid, Google’s free and open source OS, has paved solid gound for developers and handset makers to follow. Android’s market share’s been increasing and the OS is sure to have worried the competition.

But how much is the G Phone (I mean Nexus One) worrying Apple?

I think that both Google and Apple will continue to take (or firm up) market share during 2010 but will it be from each other or will they continue to eat away at the others (Samsung, Nokia, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson)?

A missed opportunity

Not to bash Google too much (yes I know it’s the most successful company ever!) but I think that they are playing a safe game here. Whereas Apple took a chance when they got started in the mobile phone business (and that chance paid off).

Although Apple had an advantage when they entered the mobile phone market with its experience making hardware, it still took a massive risk with its name on the line when the iPhone first came out. Google doesn’t seem to be doing this as much and is hedging that risk by keeping HTC still in the picture and the HTC logo on the back. If your phone stops working is it Google or HTC you blame!

I’m actually still confused with their announcement.

Is the Nexus One a “Google phone” or is it an “HTC phone with Google” (I guess meaning with some Google software)? Maybe only time and future generations of this phone will tell. But I do think that a somewhat convoluted marketing message surrounding this phone has reduced the buzz that could have been with a purely Google creation. Then again who needs ‘buzz’ when you control the web!

Here’s some more eye candy

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