iPhone vs. Android First Week Sales

Nexus One, what happened? All the news that touted you as a worthy iPhone competitor did not really seem to make that much of a difference. What gives, Nexus One? Just look at the estimated figures – brought to us by the good people at Flurry – comparing first week sales for the latest and greatest smartphones:

Flurry goes on to explain these stats in greater detail:

While Flurry estimates that Nexus One was outsold by Droid by more than 12 times, myTouch 3G by 3 times and iPhone 3GS by a staggering 80 times, it’s worth noting there are significant differences in the marketing, distribution and perception of the device as revolutionary vs. evolutionary. In short, key business decisions and other factors related to the Nexus One launch make an “apples-to-apples” comparison difficult.

As a product, the Nexus One boasts the most advanced Android OS to date as well as unique features, such as Google Voice and Google Maps. However, potentially due to the heightened “promise” created by early buzz, the handset has ultimately fallen short on sales expectations. Without the “wow factor” now expected with each new challenger to the iPhone, especially the first smartphone with Google’s own branding, demand generation has been modest.

I agree with Flurry’s assessment above and later in the post where they note the challenge Google faced in not having any brick and mortar channels to push the Nexus One through. Google clearly knows search, but they seem to have a thing or two to learn when it comes to selling physical goods to consumers.

Perhaps it doesn’t really matter; I would wager that most of us use Google’s apps, regardless of the platform, e.g. iPhone, Android, etc.

To those of you who are kind enough to read my ramblings, what are your thoughts? Why are sales so low? Was Santa (or your preferred fictional, gift-giving character) doling out mobile devices this year, leaving the potential Nexus One customer pool dry? Something else?

Much Love,

– RP