Google steps into online retailing with launch of Nexus One, new 'superphone'

Google yesterday took a step into online retailing with the launch of its new smartphone, the Nexus One, and a webstore to sell it directly to consumers. 
Calling the touchscreen phone a "superphone", the internet search giant is aiming to challenge the supremacy of Apple's iPhone and offer consumers a new way to purchase their mobiles.

At the launch in Mountain View, California, Google showed off the new smartphone and unveiled a website where consumers, including those in the UK, can buy the phone without a carrier. Asked directly if the Nexus One was an "iPhone Killer", Google said it was good to be able offer phone users a wide choice. The internet giant worked with Taiwanese electronics company HTC to make the Nexus One, which uses the latest Android operating system software from Google.

"I think you will see it pushes the limits of what's possible on a smartphone," HTC chief executive Peter Chou said. The mobile internet is just beginning to take off with the emerging dominence of smartphones which can browse the web and Google wants to make sure it is part of the sector. The company has built its billion-dollar business on online search advertising but the public is increasing surfing the web on the move. 

The company launched the Android operating system in 2007, which is now being used in more than 20 devices by various handset manufacturers, as a way of optimising consumers' use of Google online applications like Gmail, navigation and mobile search. Google has long said that the mobile Internet was the company's biggest opportunity for new growth.

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst with research firm Gartner, said: "For Google it is about selling services. They don't want to be a phone manufacturer. We have other devices that already use Android but this is going to be about the full Google experience that other devices don't give because they are not so closely linked."

Mario Queiroz, the Nexus One project leader, said at the launch: "The Nexus One is where web meets phone."

British consumers can go to Google's website and order the Nexus One for $529 and it will be shipped to them. The majority of UK phone operators have GSM networks which will work with the Nexus One and their current SIM card should work with the new handset.

In addition, Vodafone will also offer a subsidised version of the Nexus One after winning the right to become the first operator to sell the new handset in Europe.

However, unlike Apple's strategy with the iPhone, Vodafone has not signed an agreement with Google to sell the phone on an exclusive basis, meaning that other operators will undoubtedly begin to stock the Nexus One.

Vodafone said it would stock the handset in its stores and via its site in the UK "soon". That means UK consumers should not have to wait for months, as was the case with the original iPhone and the Palm Pre, to get their hands on the Nexus One. The mobile phone giant did not reveal what customers will have to pay for the handset although it is likely that it will be priced at a similar rate as comparable smart-phones.

In the US, Google also will offer versions of the Nexus One that will give people the option of selecting the wireless networks of other major carriers. Consumers can buy the Nexus One for $179 if they commit to a two-year service contract with T-Mobile USA.

The Nexus has a slightly larger screen than the iPhone with a 3.7 inch 480 x 800 OLED capacitive touchscreen and there is no physical keyboard. It is also slightly thinner and lighter than the iPhone. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 1 GHz core processor, which, according to early reviews, makes it fast and capable of handling new 3D graphics in the Android operating system and can run multiple applications in the background at once.

The phone also has a removable battery, 4 GB Micro SD storage card which is expandable to 32 GB and a 5 megapixel camera. Google says the phone's battery gives it up to 7 hours talk time, 250 hours standby and 5 hours of browsing use.

But the iPhone still retains some strong advantages. Apple, for example, offers more than 100,000 software applications versus around 18,000 for the Android platform.

Source - Times Online