It’s likely that Google will stay mum on early sales figures for its highly anticipated Nexus One smartphone. However, Flurry Analytics has taken a shot at how well the phone did in the first five days since launch.
According to Flurry, the Nexus One, which launched last week exclusively through Google’s new online cell phone retail outlet, sold 20,000 devices in its first week of sales.
While Flurry estimates that the Nexus One was outsold by Droid by more than 12 times, myTouch 3G by three times and iPhone 3GS by a staggering 80 times, it’s worth noting that there are significant differences in the marketing, distribution and perception of the device as revolutionary versus evolutionary.
Peter Farago, vice president of marketing for Flurry, says there are a number of reasons that the Nexus One experienced what was a relatively poor first-week showing when compared with other Android devices. “Google isn’t really a consumer packaged goods company. They don’t have that kind of understanding of consumer behavior,” Farago says.
Farago says that Google may have done the Nexus One in with too much hype, noting that this is essentially an evolutionary device, not the revolutionary one many were expecting. “It’s ironic, though,” Farago adds, “because this really is the best Android phone out there.”
The Nexus One has already had its share of problems in its first week on the scene. In recent days, Google and T-Mobile USA have been scrambling to address concerns on almost every level – from poor customer service to widespread claims that the device is unable to maintain connections to T-Mobile’s 3G service in many areas.
Again, Farago says that Google’s deficiency in the retail and consumer goods space is what has ultimately hurt the Nexus One, citing Apple as the flip side of the coin.
“People forget that Apple has a retail store chain, they have live customer service, they have iTunes. Apple already has a lot of these pieces that make them better suited for this kind of consumer product,” Farago says.
