In a move that could invigorate weak sales of Google’s Nexus One smartphone, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, appears ready to start selling the device. According to one online report, the cost could be as low as $99 — much lower than the subsidized $179 price from T-Mobile with a two-year plan.
Describing the Nexus One as “an Android powerhouse ready to raise the bar for mobile devices and poised to unseat Apple’s iPhone,” Wal-Mart features the smartphone in the wireless section of its online store, but it’s listed as “Coming Soon,” with an option to be notified by e-mail when it’s available. The offering was first discovered by a blog focused on the Android operating system, Android and Me.
The Wal-Mart specifications show the phone is compatible with the 3G networks of Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and AT&T, which would separate that version from the one Google sells that is compatible only with T-Mobile or unlocked for $530.
A distribution deal with the retail giant (fiscal 2009 sales were $401.2 billion) can’t help but boost the prospects of a smartphone whose initial sales have been disappointing. Despite some attractive features, like a one-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, front-and-back microphones for noise cancellation, and the ability to search and transcribe via voice recognition, Google only sold an estimated 20,000 Nexus Ones in the device’s first week despite a marketing blitz, according to Flurry. By contrast, Apple sold 1.6 million iPhone 3GS devices at its launch in June.
That means it has a long way to go to live up to the hype of being “poised to unseat Apple’s iPhone.”
“No doubt being in Wal-Mart will help the presence of the Nexus One,” said Interpret Vice President Michael Gartenberg. “But consumers will need to be evangelized and marketed to regarding the benefits of going with…