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Nexus One

Five Short Links: 18th March 2010

  • Sprint issues a press release confirming that the Nexus One will be available on their network in the US. Pricing and availability to be announced soon.

  • Google on Nexus One sales asserting that the company’s primary interest is in overall Android handset sales rather than sales of any individual handset.

    We’re pleased with our sales volumes and with how well the Nexus One has been received by our customers. The Nexus One is one of a fast growing number of Android handsets which have been brought to market through the open Android ecosystem. Our partners are shipping more than 60,000 Android handsets each day compared with 30,000 just three months ago.

  • that the Android Market now boasts 30,000 applications, almost double the 16,000 apps that it contained 3 months ago in December 2009. Impressive growth.

  • HTC issues a  stating that it intends to fully defend itself against Apple’s . Good news for Android.

  • thinks that Apple’s lawsuit against HTC is a bluff. Here’s reason 6 from 8 reasons why Apple is suing HTC and not Google:

    The patent claims are likely not as sure as they appear. Since most of the claims are really about Android, Google is the more sensible target of any lawsuit. If Apple lawyers were truly confident of winning against Google — and in reasonable timeframe, they would file a lawsuit against the search giant.

    The is worth a read for those following the Apple vs HTC case. 

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Two years earlier, Google had acquired the start-up that was developing Android. At the time, the move was largely aimed at Microsoft and meant to ensure that it didn’t wind up controlling the market for mobile devices. But when Microsoft faltered in the emerging smartphone market, and other companies like Research In Motion and then Apple began to dominate instead, Google continued to push ahead with Android and its vision of a more open mobile phone ecosystem…

Google did proceed cautiously with Android, at least initially. The first versions of the software, which appeared on devices in 2008, didn’t feature multitouch. The phones were slow and unwieldy, and Google insiders joked that they looked like bricks

But as Android-powered devices kept improving, Apple became more concerned. When Mr. Jobs returned to work from a prolonged health leave last year, he faced an array of emerging Android-powered phones like the Motorola Droid, with sleeker lines, improved performance and, like the other Android phones, the ability to run multiple applications at the same time.

Apple believes that devices like smartphones and tablets should have tightly controlled, proprietary standards and that customers should take advantage of services on those gadgets with applications downloaded from Apple’s own App Store.

Google, on the other hand, wants smartphones to have open, nonproprietary platforms so users can freely roam the Web for apps that work on many devices. Google has long feared that rivals like Microsoft or Apple or wireless carriers like Verizon could block access to its services on devices like smartphones, which could soon eclipse computers as the primary gateway to the Web. Google’s promotion of Android is, essentially, an effort to control its destiny in the mobile world.

The complete NYT article on the increasing rivalry between Apple and Google is well worth a read.

Apple yesterday issued a statement announcing a lawsuit against Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC for iPhone patent infringements. HTC was the first company to produce phones which ran the Android operating system and recently partnered with Google to produce the Nexus One.

This is a fairly unprecedented move by Apple and to our knowledge the first time that they have initiated a direct lawsuit against a major competitor. Although Apple have chosen to serve HTC it would seem that it is Google’s Android operating system that is the real target here.

“When companies start to imitate one another, it’s usually either an extreme case of flattery—or war. In the case of Google and Apple, it’s both.” On Jan. 5, Google did a very Apple-like thing. In a presentation at the Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif., the 11-year-old search behemoth unveiled Nexus One, a stylish touchscreen smartphone that runs on the company’s Android operating system, is sold through a Google-operated retail Web site, and greets the market with an advertising tagline (“Web meets phone”) as simple and optimistic as the one Apple used in 2007 to introduce its iPhone (“The Internet in your pocket”). On the same day, Apple did a very Google-like thing. Steve Jobs, the king of splashy product launches and in-house development, announced a strategic acquisition. For $275 million, Apple purchased Quattro Wireless, an upstart advertising company that excels at targeting ads to mobile-phone users based on their behavior. The in-depth article from BusinessWeek on Google and Apple’s increasing convergence spans four pages and can be found here.

“When companies start to imitate one another, it’s usually either an extreme case of flattery—or war. In the case of Google and Apple, it’s both.”

On Jan. 5, Google did a very Apple-like thing. In a presentation at the Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif., the 11-year-old search behemoth unveiled Nexus One, a stylish touchscreen smartphone that runs on the company’s Android operating system, is sold through a Google-operated retail Web site, and greets the market with an advertising tagline (“Web meets phone”) as simple and optimistic as the one Apple used in 2007 to introduce its iPhone (“The Internet in your pocket”).
On the same day, Apple did a very Google-like thing. Steve Jobs, the king of splashy product launches and in-house development, announced a strategic acquisition. For $275 million, Apple purchased Quattro Wireless, an upstart advertising company that excels at targeting ads to mobile-phone users based on their behavior.

The in-depth article from BusinessWeek on Google and Apple’s increasing convergence spans four pages and can be found here.

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