links for 2010-01-06

The Nexus One has some cool features and some clunky ones, but in the end, we should root for the success of the Google Store.

Call me a naysayer, as it's certainly contrary to conventional wisdom, but I believe that this move is an indication that Google has misread the market, and now faces a choice between a fragmented Android marketplace or abandoning the core precepts of Android (as an open, hardware vendor-neutral software platform play) in order to go toe-to-toe with Apple in areas that, I would note, Google hasn't proven to be strong at; namely, hardware design, user experience, and developer tools.

You pick your phone first -- the Nexus One for now, but more devices coming in the future, Google promises -- and THEN you pick your carrier.

Today, it's available to work with tiny T-Mobile in the States. Coming soon, Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. carrier, and giant Vodafone in Europe.

The big change -- and the whole point -- is that Google, not the carrier, is now the distributor. The carrier simply offers voice and data service.

Once again, Apple has seized the early lead, launching a revolutionary product that is taking the world by storm. Once again, consumers are head-over-heels in love and Apple investors are dynastically wealthy and certain of the company's future world dominance. Once again, Steve Jobs is God.

And, once again, Apple is insisting on selling a tightly controlled, fully integrated hardware and soltware device while its major competitor--Google--is spraying low-cost (free) software across dozens of hardware manufacturers, driving for platform ubiquity.

Even though it's thin, fast, bright, and beautiful, with amazing sensor-based capabilities ... The real turning point is Google's commitment to making the Nexus One a web-native device. ... Overall, though, it seems to me that Google's experience in delivering cloud-based data-driven applications is aligned with long-term trends in a way that Apple's device-bound heritage is not. Apple is playing catch-up in cloud infrastructure, building its own location services, for instance, but iTunes and the App Store excepted, Apple's cloud experience is limited, especially in the area of algorithmically driven applications, which I believe is so central to the future of computing. Meanwhile, Google has so many data assets, and so much experience in algorithmic applications, that it may be difficult for Apple to compete in the long term.

This is the best Android powered phone to date. It’s also the fastest and most elegant smartphone on the market today, solidly beating the iPhone in most ways. In this rapidly evolving market there is sure to be something better just around the corner. But if you are looking to buy a high end smartphone right now, this is the phone for you. The Nexus One is the Android signature device.

there is one fundamental difference – business model choice.

When Apple launched the iPhone, it was able to secure an unprecedentedly strong business relationship with AT&T. Not only did Apple want control over the user interface, something carriers had been extremely reluctant to cede, it also wanted previously unrealized economics for a handset or OS designer. Apple insisted on upfront revenue dollars as well as a cut of the cellular service stream. AT&T, desperate for a win vs. Verizon, acquiesced. ... While Apple may have opened the proverbial Walled Garden, it is Google, with its aggressive Android offering, that aims to obliterate it. ... paying incentives to hardware vendors and carriers, protecting its ad market, not caring about hardware or software profits. Android won't compete directly w/iPhone, it’s after the other 3.95 billion cell phone users that are highly likely to consider Android a step up from their current feature phone.

today we're pleased to announce a new way for consumers to purchase a mobile phone through a Google hosted web store. The goal of this new consumer channel is to provide an efficient way to connect Google's online users with selected Android devices. We also want to make the overall user experience simple: a simple purchasing process, simple service plans from operators, simple and worry-free delivery and start-up.

The first phone we'll be selling through this new web store is the Nexus One — a convergence point for mobile technology, apps and the Internet. Nexus One is an exemplar of what's possible on mobile devices through Android — when cool apps meet a fast, bright and connected computer that fits in your pocket. The Nexus One belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call "superphones." It's the first in what we expect to be a series of products which we will bring to market with our operator and hardware partners and sell through our online store.