Google to close online smart phone store
Source: Agencies |
May 16, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
GOOGLE Inc is to close its online phone store after just four months.
Google said on Friday it will stop selling its Nexus One smart phone online and instead work with partners to sell through retail outlets.
"It's clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone," Google Engineering Vice President Andy Rubin said.
He acknowledged the online store had not lived up to expectations, never growing beyond a "niche channel for early adopters."
The move comes shortly after Sprint Nextel and Verizon both scrapped plans to support the Nexus One phone that Google sold online and represents a significant scaling back of Google's ambitions in the wireless industry, said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis.
"They clearly have retreated from the model of revolutionizing the method in which we acquire our smart phones," Gillis said.
Still, analysts noted that Google's challenges with its online store come as the search giant is making gains against Apple Inc and Research in Motion in the smart phone market with its Android software.
A dozen handset makers offer devices that feature Google's Android smart phone operating system and more than 65,000 Android-based devices are shipped every day, according to Google.
A report by NPD Group said Android became the second most popular smart phone operating system in the United States during the first quarter, behind Research in Motion, displacing Apple's iPhone for the first time.
Google said on Friday it will stop selling its Nexus One smart phone online and instead work with partners to sell through retail outlets.
"It's clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone," Google Engineering Vice President Andy Rubin said.
He acknowledged the online store had not lived up to expectations, never growing beyond a "niche channel for early adopters."
The move comes shortly after Sprint Nextel and Verizon both scrapped plans to support the Nexus One phone that Google sold online and represents a significant scaling back of Google's ambitions in the wireless industry, said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis.
"They clearly have retreated from the model of revolutionizing the method in which we acquire our smart phones," Gillis said.
Still, analysts noted that Google's challenges with its online store come as the search giant is making gains against Apple Inc and Research in Motion in the smart phone market with its Android software.
A dozen handset makers offer devices that feature Google's Android smart phone operating system and more than 65,000 Android-based devices are shipped every day, according to Google.
A report by NPD Group said Android became the second most popular smart phone operating system in the United States during the first quarter, behind Research in Motion, displacing Apple's iPhone for the first time.
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