Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010    Text size: 

A recent posting by mobile analytics firm Flurry illustrates the challenges faced by the world's largest search company cum telephone company, as it seemingly tries in vain to convince nonplussed consumers to buy its revolutionary device.

"As Google and Apple continue to battle for the mobile marketplace, Google Nexus One may go down as a grand, failed experiment or one that ultimately helped Google learn something that will prove important in years to come," the Flurry report states. "Despite the fact that the Google Nexus One is the most advanced Android handset to date, and enjoyed substantial buzz leading up to its release, the launch has been overshadowed by lower than expected sales."

Flurry says that because its analytics tools are used in a wide range of applications, it is able to identify and count devices such as Google's Nexus One and the Motorola Droid. Claiming that its software is installed on more than 80 percent of iPhone OS and Android devices, the company is confident in its estimates of initial handset sales, which it places at 1 million iPhones, 1.05 million Droids — and only 135,000 Nexus Ones.

According to its numbers, based on the first 74 days of each product's sales, Flurry estimates that initial Droid uptake slightly outpaced initial iPhone sales — but that both devices sold more than eight times as many units as did the Nexus One during the same time period.

"The comparison is interesting because the iPhone and Nexus One each represent Apple and Google's first fully branded handsets, respectively," the report added. "We add the Motorola Droid as a point of comparison, and because it's the fastest selling Android phone to date."

While a broad range of factors influenced the initial adoption of these platforms, the progression is not without precedent.

"Apple's more vertically integrated strategy vs. Google's more open Android platform approach offer strengths and weaknesses that remind us of PC vs. Mac from the 1980's," the report concluded. "A key difference this time around is that Apple is enjoying much more 3rd party developer support, whose innovative applications push the limits of what the hardware can do."