Google, trying to spread its supremacy from search to smartphones, yesterday unveiled its Nexus One in an attempt to rival Apple’s much-adored iPhone.
The search engine giant debuted its new lightweight (4.58 ounces), slim (.45-inch) all-in-one touch-screen companion just two years after the company jumped into the mobile phone market with its Android operating system software, which is now available on more than 20 phones.
Its latest endeavor, developed with HTC, marks the Silicon Valley-based company’s first foray into selling its own hardware device and own design. It will initially be available to T-Mobile customers before spreading to other providers starting this spring.
ZDnet.com’s Sam Diaz headlined his live blog feed from the San Francisco event: “Nexus One raises bar, but isn’t quite ‘super’ phone.” Though, with its 1 gigahertz Snapdragon processor, he wrote, “There’s definitely some powerful processing going on under the hood.”
Google has long been developing a shift to a more mobile Web from its “cash cow” of PC-based operations, said David Rogers, executive director of Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership.
“It’s not going to revolutionize the experience for the customer in the short term,” Rogers said. “The big deal — it points to the fact that the iPhone won’t have the whole pie. … That leads to innovation and dynamism in the market.”
