Initial Sales of the Google Nexus One May Be Very Low

The Google Nexus One has been on the market for a week now, and no official number of units sold so far is available. An unofficial estimate is available, though, and it's surprisingly low.

The mobile software tracking company Flurry estimated the number of Nexus One devices in use based on data collected from a wide variety of third-party apps installed by the users. It has done this in the past with earlier models, and its estimates have been reasonably accurate.

According to Flurry, Google sold just 20,000 units in the first week. For comparison, Flurry estimates that Verizon sold 250,000 Motorola Droid units in the first week, more than 10 times as many.

A Tale of Two Smartphones
The dichotomy in week one sales between these two phones is likely a result of the way they are being marketed and sold.

The Motorola Droid is being offered through Verizon Wireless, who heavily advertised it on TV in the weeks leading up to the launch. In addition, anyone interested in seeing a Droid before purchasing it can go to a Verizon store for some hands-on time.

The Nexus One, on the other hand, is being sold directly by Google. It has T-Mobile service, but does not appear anywhere on this carrier's website. It's not in T-Mobile stores either, so users have to way to try before they buy.

All advertising for it has been online, with no TV ads done at all. Still, it was listed for a time on the Google homepage, one of the most visited sites on the Web.

Going Forward
The weak initial sales of the Google Nexus One -- assuming Flurry's sales estimates are accurate, of course -- don't necessarily reflect how this smartphone will do in the long run.

Some analysts are fairly optimistic about its prospects: for example, Doug Anmuth from Barclays Capital predicts that Google will sell between 5 and 6 million Nexus One units by the end of the year.

There can be no doubt, to reach that goal, sales will definitely have to pick up.

An Overview of the Google Nexus One
This smartphone is the first to be released by Google under its own brand name, and it offers a number of high-end features.

It has a tablet shape with a 3.7-inch, WVGA, AM-OLED display and a trackball.

The Nexus One runs Android OS 2.1 on a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, making it the first to offer this combination. It has 512 MB RAM. 

This device comes with a 4 GB microSD card, and users have the option to expand this up to 32 GB.

At this point, it is available only from T-Mobile USA, but will be released by Verizon Wireless and Vodafone in the spring.

It supports T-Mobile's 3G service, and also Wi-Fi b/g and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with stereo support.

Other features include a 5 MPx camera with auto-focus and LED flash, 3.5 mm headset jack, a GPS receiver, accelerometer, and digital compass.

Source: Flurry