Tag: Android

Nexus One coming to Vodafone not Verizon

“We wont be selling a Nexus One with Verizon and this is a reflection of the amazing innovation happening across the open Android ecosystem,” Google said in an emailed statement.

via UPDATE 1-Google smartphone coming to stores, no Verizon| Reuters.

Come again?

The breakdown of the deal signals Verizon may view Google as a competitor rather than a partner when it comes to Nexus One sales, which are probably at less than half a million since the phone’s January debut, said BGC Partners’s Colin Gillis. ‘It’s really a flop for Google,’ said the New York-based analyst.”

See also: Bloomberg.

Android Market passes 50k apps

Android has already crossed the 50,000 app mark, new stats from AndroLib show. Just a week after Google officially confirmed the 38,000 app mark, a raw estimate now says the mobile app store has added 10,000 more apps within at least a few weeks.

via Android Market passes 50,000 apps | Electronista.

The AppShopper iTunes app store spider shows the following totals today:

  • Total Apps Approved: 222431
  • Total Available Apps: 191465
  • Total Available iPhone Apps: 188005
  • Total Available iPad Apps: 4902

iAd adds up to a lot of cash

“The average user spends over 30 minutes every day using apps on their phone. If we said we wanted to put an ad up every 3 minutes, that’s 10 ads per device per day. That would be 1b ad opportunities per day.”

This is going to take some time to sink in over at the Googleplex.  By pushing Android, Google removed themselves from this opportunity.  Jobs continues:

“We do not have any plans to become a worldwide ad agency. We tried to buy a company called AdMob, and Google came in and snatched them from us. We bought Quattro instead. They’re teaching us and we’re learning as fast as we can.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I did suggest iAd was coming on Dec. 30 of last year:

I think it’s a certainty that Apple will introduce an ad serving platform for the iPhone (and any tablet) in 2010. This will amount to a checkbox that developers will check when submitting their app to the store. Doing so will allow Apple to place ads on the app in return for a check in the mail to the developer for the impressions.

Google and Microsoft swap mobile share

according to a report published Monday. ComScore reported that Google’s share of smartphone subscribers rose to 9%, compared to 3.8% at the end of November. Meanwhile Apple’s share fell 0.1 points to 25.4%, while Microsoft’s share fell 4 points to 15.1%.

via Google’s share of mobile market grows: report – MarketWatch.

Seems Google’s gain is Microsoft’s loss.

BlackBerry, saw its share rise 1.3 points to 42.1%, according to the data. The number of owners of smartphones rose 21% in the U.S. in the three months ended in February compared to the prior period.

Google’s Advertising Rev-Share Deals With Carriers

Well, at least part of the answer appears to be that Google is sharing advertising revenues with carriers that use Android, according to multiple sources who are familiar with the deals.

via Android’s Secret Sauce? Google’s Advertising Rev-Share Deals With Carriers | mocoNews.

This must be why AT&T replaced Google search with Bing on its Android phone and gutted all Google services as well.

Google thinks trying to predict the stock market is illegal

There are many, many things that Google could do, that we chose not to do… One day we had a conversation where we figured we could just try to predict the stock market. And then we decided it was illegal.

link: MacDailyNews

This is so insane that I have to assume he was mis-quoted.


Nexus One: 135k Units Sold

Despite the fact that the Google Nexus One is the most advanced Android handset to date, and enjoyed substantial buzz leading up to its release, the launch has been overshadowed by lower than expected sales.

link: Initial Sales of Original iPhone, Droid, and Nexus One Compared – Mac Rumors

On the heels of the 71% cut in estimates this should not be a surprise. Nor should it be given Rubin’s stated goal:

Rubin hopes his company can sell, at the very least, 150,000 Nexus One devices.

link: Google’s Mobile Chief Andy Rubin on the Google Phone & the Androidification of Everything – GigaOM


Selling Android Phones With Malware at No Extra Charge

Vodafone distributes Mariposa botnet | Panda Research Blog


Pedro Bustamante:

Interestingly enough, the Mariposa bot is not the only malware I found on the Vodafone HTC Magic phone. There’s also a Confiker and a Lineage password stealing malware. I wonder who’s doing QA at Vodafone and HTC these days?

In the comments, Bustamante writes:

Regardless, I don’t think this has to do with factory settings, but rather with poor QA process of refurbished phones.


Why HTC (Part II)

Starting in January, Apple launched a series of C-Level discussions with tier-1 handset makers to underscore its growing displeasure at seeing its iPhone-related IP infringed. The lawsuit filed against HTC thus appears to be Apple’s way of putting a public, lawyered-up exclamation point on a series of blunt conversations that have been occurring behind closed doors.

link: Apple talks tough to handset makers – Apple 2.0 – Fortune Brainstorm Tech

Top-tier handset makers continued to avoid implementing multi-touch, but Apple could safely assume that they were hanging back to gauge Apple’s response to Motorola and HTC. If there wasn’t one, the OEMs would likely read the silence as a green light, especially after Google also moved to enable multi-touch on its Nexus One phone.

Even before the lawsuit, handset makers were having second thoughts about Google, which with the Nexus One had become a direct competitor. Now their faith in Android as the easiest and cheapest way to counter the iPhone has been shaken, says Reiner.

Seems pretty close to what I wrote here:

Why HTC?

Therefore it’s entirely likely that HTC was singled out to disrupt the business logic of modular mobile software. HTC is the pioneer and the hub as the largest licensee for both WinMo/WinP and Android and the inspiration for hundreds of OEM/ODMs to make modular products.

… Other vendors looking at this licensing model might think harder about participating, and that may be the whole point.

Analyst Cuts Nexus One Estimates by 71%

We previously estimated that Google might sell 3.5 mn Nexus One units in 2010. Initial data-points were disappointing, possibly due to limited marketing and customer service challenges. Flurry estimated (based on mobile traffic) that Google sold 20,000 in the first week, and 80,000 in the first month, both annualizing to 1.0 mn. We forecast that Google sells 1.0 mn Nexus One units in FY2010, benefiting from US carriers other than T-Mobile, and non-US carriers such as Vodafone, promoting the device too, but suffering from limited marketing activity. We assume that Google rolls out a second Nexus handset, markets it more aggressively, and makes it available offline, and therefore forecast that Google sells 2 mn handsets per year in 2011 and future years.

link: Goldman: We Were Too Rosy on Google Smartphone Unit Sales – MarketBeat – WSJ

First they get excited over Palm then fawn over Nexus One. Then they take it all back. Give us a break.

Read my takes here:

Google the Shopkeeper
Nexus One: 80k units in first month -Flurry
Android vs. Google