Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home IT Management
    • IT Management
    • Mobile
    • Networking

    Google Nexus One Smartphone Is a Profitable Business, CFO Says

    By
    Clint Boulton
    -
    April 17, 2010
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Google CFO Patrick Pichette characterized Google’s Nexus One as profitable, answering one of the nagging questions financial analysts posed soon after the device launched Jan. 5.

      Google offers the Android 2.1-based Nexus One unlocked through its Webstore for $529 or for $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile.

      Mobile analytics firm Flurry triggered concern about sales of the device March 16 when it said that Google sold only 135,000 units of its Nexus One smartphone through its first 74 days on the market.

      By comparison, Apple sold more sold more than 1 million units of its first-generation iPhone through the same time. Verizon also shipped more than 1 million units of the Droid through 74 days.

      Measured against those gaudy statistics, the Nexus One seemed to be a failure, and analysts attributed the paucity in interest to Google’s sale of the device solely through its Webstore.

      Google executives were upbeat about the Nexus One and Android smartphones overall on the first-quarter earnings call April 15. Pichette confirmed the Nexus One was a profitable business, though he wouldn’t disclose how many of the devices have been sold or other core economics.

      Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter said he estimated Nexus One unit sales at 200,000, contributing $106 million, or 2 percent, of Google’s net revenue. That figure stands to increase when Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and Sprint begin offering wireless plans for the device this year.

      Jeff Huber, senior vice president for engineering, said on the call that Google is “very happy with the device uptake and the kind of impact that’s had across the industry in terms of raising the bar and peoples’ expectations of what a great smartphone can do.”

      He declined to say whether the phone might be sold by carriers through their retail stores, but he did claim Android is gaining a lot of momentum. He said the OS is shipping on some 60,000 smartphones and activated each day, spanning 34 devices from 12 OEMs.

      The Android Market now features 38,000 applications. While the number of Android apps is still a far cry from the 185,000-plus apps in Apple’s App Store, Huber said the number of Android apps is up 70 percent quarter-over-quarter.

      Huber made it clear the goal is to get more people using smartphones and seeing more mobile ads.

      To that end, Google is working on specialized mobile ads, including those that provide users with click-to-call options. These business ads feature links that let users click to call the business to get more information about products and services.

      J. Gold Associates Jack Gold said that while many people are bashing Google for only selling 200,000 Nexus Ones, analysts should look at what Google has gained from building the Nexus One.

      This includes information for itself and Android developers about mobile use from applications and ads, as well as feedback on the Google’s direct sales model via its Webstore.

      “For Google, it was never about trying to out-compete iPhone or selling more devices than BlackBerry or HTC or Moto [who also sell Android phones, but with their ‘overlay’ on top],” Gold said.

      “It wasn’t about Google becoming a phone company. It was about Google getting a significant number of devices out there to form a big ‘reference platform’ testing/pilot environment where they could model, test and tune their ecosystem based on the real life use of the early adopters who would buy Nexus One.”

      By testing the market waters with the Nexus One and its new Webstore, Google laid a foundation it can build on for more mobile initiatives later on, including more Android phones.

      Avatar
      Clint Boulton

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×