Google’s Nexus One smartphone, which grabbed the spotlight recently among the wave of new devices based on its open-source Android operating system, sold an estimated 20,000 units in its first week. That sales estimation by a company that tracks applications is being interpreted by some industry observers as disappointing.
The number came from Flurry, which estimates new smartphones by tracking more than 10,000 third-party applications in more than 25 million end-user sessions each day.
‘Pretty Uninspiring Stuff’
Business Week’s Peter Burrows, for example, who sees the estimate as disappointing, described the number as “pretty uninspiring stuff” and the launch as a “slow start.”
Flurry noted that, by comparison, the iPhone 3GS sold 1.6 million in its first week, and the Android-based Droid and myTouch sold 250,000 and 60,000, respectively.
But others have noted that, if Google sells 20,000 Nexus Ones a week, that’s more than a million units a year for a device that has no paid advertising. While it doesn’t necessarily compare favorably to the iPhone’s sales, a million units a year is not insignificant.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said a comparison to the iPhone may overlook Google’s real intentions.
“They are creating a new distribution model,” he noted, since the Nexus One can only be bought on Google’s web site. Apple, by contrast, insists on its carrier partners selling the iPhone through their channels. T-Mobile, currently the carrier partner in the U.S. for the Nexus One, does not provide distribution or marketing support for the device.
Greengart suggested that Google, which has been known to play multidimensional chess, might have other goals than sales numbers. In a well-known display of its long-term strategy, for instance, Google appears to have gotten its goal of open-device bandwidth by “losing” the 2008 Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction.
‘Premium Real Estate’
Greengart said the…