Sprint Nexus One: Gone Before It Ever Came

No surprises here. The Nexus One by Google was supposed to be the one phone to rule them all. It was supposed to be available on every single carrier through Google, with or without subsidy. It should have been the sales model of the future – buy your phone without the hassle of dealing with customer service reps or retail stores. T-Mobile was the first to have the Nexus One and, according to Google in January, it was coming to Verizon in the spring of 2010. That never happened. Sprint said that it would still move forward with its plans to carry the Nexus One after the Verizon news, but recently changed its mind. What’s going on here?

The problem is Android and the fact that it is being adopted by manufacturers who are making radically better hardware every single month. Why would someone want the Nexus One when the HTC Droid Incredible from Verizon is now available? Even Verizon encouraged its customers to look at the Incredible instead of holding their breath for the Nexus One. And why would Sprint customers want a Nexus One when the HTC EVO 4G is going to be available soon? Android’s fragmentation as a platform was already a problem for Google, but now rapid hardware evolution is causing problems, too. This ecosystem almost makes it impossible to ever find a “right time” to buy an Android handset.

Another issue with the Nexus One is the inconvenience of buying a handset and waiting for it to be shipped. You never get to touch the device or play with it first, and that’s crucial for a lot of people. Videos, pictures and online reviews can never replace the personal user experience. Blindly buying a device from Google isn’t appealing to customers who are so used to the walk-into-the-store model. And what if you don’t like the device? You go through the hassle of shipping it back and shopping all over again.

Sprint is a great network and the Nexus One would have made a nice addition to its relatively weak line-up. Unfortunately, both Sprint and Google couldn’t make it happen faster, and it just wouldn’t make sense to release it now only to be swallowed whole by the EVO 4G.

The Nexus One is dead. Long live the Nexus One.

via MacNN