Nexus One Google Phone Pricing Rumors Round-Up

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Tags : Android Phones and Tablets, Google, Rumors and Speculation, VoIP

Nexus One Google Phone Pricing Rumors Round-Up

Posted on 16 December 2009 by Thomas R. Hall

android

News of a Google-branded Android phone, code-named the Nexus One has been popping up all over the ‘Net lately. First came the rumors, and then more concrete information and confirmation. Well, now there are rumors on pricing and release dates. Read on for a round-up of the current rumors.

Reuters is reporting that the Nexus One will be available possibly as early as January 5th in two configurations: With T-Mobile USA service and an unlocked version.

According to a post on AndroidGuys and a post on Android and Me, anonymous informants provide potential pricing for the Nexus One: $199. The Android and Me article suggests this price is being subsidized by Google directly. The AndroidGuys post mentions the possibility of an additional $100 rebate from Google, bringing the price as low as $99. The possibility of the phone being all VoIP-based with no need for a voice plan (data only) is interesting, as is inexpensive roaming internationally.

Now, Google, bring Google Voice number portability as part of this as well, will ya?

(Via Reuters, AndroidGuys, and Android and Me)

This post was written by:

Thomas R. Hall - who has written 82 posts on Gear Diary.

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gorkon
IF this comes out for $99 with no provider subsidy….I will be GETTING this phone. However that's a BIG if with a lot of Salt on top of it.
ChrisSpera
I agree, Joel. At EITHER of those prices, I could afford to use it on AT&T and on T-Mo when I switch over in the Spring…IF the pricing rumors are correct.
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alese
If Google would sell this for 100 EUR here in Europe, I would probably get two, but I really doubt that.
With such a price why would anyone buy an iPhone or anything similar (touch, no keyboard…).

Charbax
Google can sell it for 100€ unlocked because that's what it costs to manufacture it. Google doesn't need to profit on hardware, they plan to profit on mobile ads.

alese
Maybe there will be such price in US and with specific carrier (T-Mobile?), but I highly doubt Google would sell these for 100 dollars/euro world wide. Not because they don't need to profit from hardware sales (why wouldn't they if they can – they are a bussiness after all), but simply because such pricing would undermine prices across the industry and I don't think HTC would go along with making a 100 dollars 1GHz high end smartphone and still think they would sell their own models for 500-600 – and HTC needs to profit from their devices to stay in business.
As much as I would love to see such cheap smartphone it's just not realistic – but this is one thing where I wouldn't mind be wrong.

Charbax
They manufacture the cheapest smartphones for $30 over in China. If HTC doesn't want to make it, then Google can go to any other of dozens of manufacturers to have those cheaper Android phones done.

alese
Well there is a reason why these phones cost as much and there is a reason, why noone is buying them regardles the price.
I'm not saying it's not possible to sell high end smartphone unlocked for the price of an average “dumb” phone, I'm just saying that in the world where such devices sell for 600+ EUR unlocked there is just no reason for Google to do such thing and no business case for HTC to go along with it.
Right now HTC is selling their “low end” Touch2 (qVGA, 500MHz) for around 300 EUR if Google starts selling Nexus for 100 unlocked they can just close the shop, together with pretty much everybody else.
Of course if Google would “subsidize” this device for HTC that would be another story – but I highly doubt that they would do that outside US.

Charbax
It doesn't matter what price phones are sold at today. The fact is the price for manufacturing the phone is 100€. So if Google decides not to make profit on selling the hardware, they can sell it at that price. Keeping the price high, would be taking part of continued price fixing.

alese
Anything and everything sold online or in shops today costs much less to make than it's price for the consumer – I just don't see Google beiing such a good samaritan to the general public to single handidly cut mobile devices margins to almost 0.
But if they do, like I said – I'll buy two myself.

Charbax
I also think that the high unlocked phone prices have to do with cell phone manufacturers making deals with telecom companies where it's actually the telecom companies that kind of get an exclusivity to distribute the devices, and based on that, the telecom purposefully puts a huge margin on the sale of unlocked devices precisely because the telecoms are not interested in people buying unlocked devices, so telecoms prefer selling the subsidized devices tied with long subscription contracts. Yet, all the rumors on the Nexus One point towards Google disrupting this business model by not selling through carriers but instead selling the unlocked device directly through retail stores and through its own website.
mrfooter
Google don't care about making a profit on the phone. They don't profit on any Android phones from the G1 thru the DROID. They want billions of people with Android phones surfing, searching, waving, etc. to make money on ads… That's what they do. I think the Nexus One (especially if Google subsidizes the cost) could be the child of Google's frustration with the same old crap from telcos. Telcos will become dumb pipes. It's happening with the old home phones and it will happen with wireless too. Think of the Nexus One as a little nudge to get them to conform sooner rather than later. Maybe it's a little temper tantrum from Google in response to ATT/iPnone not allowing Google Voice on the iPhone. Google usually likes to play well with others but they're also not afraid to throw their weight around if slapped in the face the way ATT/iPnone did. One Man's Opinion.

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