Comments on: Where's the Google Phone Bump?

By: Google: Beware the eBay Curse « shankarsoma; Change the View

Google: Beware the eBay Curse « shankarsoma; Change the View — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:00:03 +0000

[...] But so far, the first device featuring Android has failed to dazzle. Carrier T-Mobile USA has gotten nowhere near the sales bump Apple partner AT&T (T) is getting from the iPhone. [...]

By: Matthew Lenz

Matthew Lenz — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:29:41 +0000

Its not the G1. Its Tmobile’s network. I think google was smart going with tmobile simply because they use international standard gsm frequencies. Unfortunately tmobile’s 3g network is very lack luster and by the time they get it into shape there will be android phones on most of the carriers people are already using. tmobile does seem like a pretty cool company overall, but they are definitely the underdog right now.

By: Mark Sigal

Mark Sigal — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:29:43 +0000

@reinharden, great rant. I am writing a post on this exact point; namely, that there is a tendency/bias to assume that “open” is a necessary requisite for success, when instead, it’s merely an attribute. Customers don’t buy attributes, they buy outcomes.

That’s not to say that Android won’t get there but it’s hardly a straight line path.

Bottom line is that Google has a steep learning curve to nail the end to end (hardware/software/service/sdk-ecosystem) around what is both a user experience and performance optimized type of platform.

By: nofone

nofone — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:07:35 +0000

The biggest problem with the G1 is the open source mentality of we’ll fix it when we get to it. Paying customers don’t have the patience while dorks pound away at code in their mother’s basement and will spend their money elsewhere. Two years is a long time for a mobile and people will be itching to switch devices prior to the end of their contract. Not much work will be done to update Tmo’s gadget once a replacement model comes out. Carriers know this and happy to sell you something else. Three iphones versions anyone?

By: Sanjath

Sanjath — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:08:46 +0000

Arjun,
IPod had a great influence on iPhone buyers, i.e: if you are in the market for buying an ipod, you could as well spend the same money and switch to iphone to get almost all the features of ipod and product that is very much the current buzz. Some analysts feared that iPhone may cannibalize the ipod market. However, nothing like that happened, but I am sure that people looking for new ipods will consider iphone. However, there would not be such a consideration when people are looking for other phones. G1′s music store cannot replace the experience of itunes on iphone, right?

By: Arjun

Arjun — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:54:17 +0000

Typo in above post
“But anyway, to the point: Iphone did not outsell/outperform android just because of the iphone” should read

“But anyway, to the point: Iphone did not outsell/outperform android just because of the IPOD”

By: Arjun

Arjun — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:52:40 +0000

There is no question that iPhone has a ‘consumer’ oomph factor that Android does not. Android has a developer oomph factor (especially after they released source) but that does not result in immediate revenue till the developer oomph gets translated to 3rd party android innovation beyond phones (like on netbooks, chips etc – like is happening now)

But anyway, to the point: Iphone did not outsell/outperform android just because of the iphone. Also remember it was the first really usable/good phone that had multi-touch, all screen etc. in the mass market. So when people took up on iphone, it was the *only* option. This is first player advantage. By the time android came out, the consumer oomph was already satisfied. No question that android ui/feel lags behind iphone.

But I am sure, if android released first instead of iphone, it would also shoot through the charts (even though it is inferior in customer oomph)

By: Michael Martin

Michael Martin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:55:48 +0000

Remember the G1 is a first generation Android device and came out in late October of last year – barely 3 months ago.

There should be an uptick as a plethora of Android phones come out later this year as they should be first revealed publicly at the upcoming GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

,Michael Martin

By: Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:38:04 +0000

David, after reading the release three more times, I realized you were right. It’s both an increase in the proportion of pre-paid and an increase in the actual number. Thanks, I fixed it.

By: David R.

David R. — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:09:46 +0000

You misread the press release. T-Mobile is actually INCREASING the number of prepaid customers.

The proportion of net new customers on contracts decreased…
“Net new contract customer additions amounted to 267,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008, or 43% of total net new
customer additions, compared to 293,000 or 44% in the third quarter of 2008 and 733,000 or 77% in the fourth quarter of 2007″

…while the proportion of prepaid net adds increased.
“Prepaid net additions were 355,000 [out of 621,000] in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to 377,000 in the third quarter of 2008, and up from 218,000 [out of 951,000] in the fourth quarter of 2007.”