Google to sell 400,000 Android phones by the end of 2008?
Sounds a little excessive to us, but that’s the estimate coming from Strategy Analysts. The firm is claiming that Google and T-Mobile will push roughly 400,000 units before the end of the quarter, which would account for roughly 4 percent of all smartphones sold during that period. Citing Google’s brand strength SA has high hopes for the debut of one of the most highly anticipated handset/OS combinations in recent history. While we’re as excited about Android as the next guy, it’s hard to imagine that many handsets moving out the door by years end, especially with an upcoming iPhone refresh to contend with. That said, time will be the judge and we wouldn’t be the least bit upset if Android picked up steam quickly.
Its going to be huge.
A huge disappointment…
You know, I’d agree that they could sell that many…IF IT WASN’T ON T-MOBILE
unless they’re talking about Android phones in general (on any network)
Right, what is Google? And how do they dare think they can sell phones just by brand name recognition like Apple did with the iPhone?
Come on guys, how about some objective journalism? Even for a blog it isn’t too hard. Just like the iPhone the Google phone is getting word of mouth in the least likely of places.
Google is burned into our lives more than Apple. Between the free press and word of mouth this phone will get decent attention. It boils down to the user experience and quality. If they have both they will sell 400,000 by year end. If they do not they still might sell 400,000 units. Poor quality hasn’t hurt the iPhone 3G.
I think I read earlier this week that Sprint was also going to have an android device by the end of the year also(I’m pretty sure I read it here). Is SA saying there will be 400K android units put out by T-Mobile or Android units sold in general. If the latter is the case, I think the number would more than realistic. I haven’t read anything about android outside the US, but if this happens as well by the end of the year, that number will be cake.
With the Price Point that they appear to be sticking with I agree with that projection. Think about it, the first Iphone which was double that price sold well over a million in a very short span of time. There are just enough anti-winmo people who will take advantage of T-mobiles great customer service & that really low price point to jump ship & save money. Then you have alot of parents who will gladly spend $200US rather than $400US for a Smartphone for their teenagers so they SMS til their hearts content. Simple economics plays out rather well here.
Dario9: I didn’t realize the tools got out of bed so early. If you don’t like the coverage, why not just go somewhere else?
With respect to “coverage in the least likely of places,” you must be referring to blogs and “Wired” magazine, because those are the only places I’ve seen Android coverage. No tv commercials, no print ads, nothing. So, if you’re a tech geek or have a brother who is one (because let’s face it. . .no one dates tech geeks), then you know about Android, but otherwise, you don’t.
That the marketing hasn’t kicked in yet is to be expected; Google, despite making a ton of money from advertising, has never really marketed anything they weren’t giving away for free. It will be interesting to see how well they learn on the fly, and how long it takes them to create their own device instead of relying on manufacturers to build their same dated designs (appropriate bluetooth functionality would help also).
I know AT&T has more coverage nationwide than T-Mobile when you include roaming agreements, but honest to God, I just started using T-Mobile last month since I’ve ported and I have yet to drop a call. Calls are much cleaner with less audio distortion like I had on AT&T as well.
I’m glad I didn’t listen to all those AT&T retail fanboys who try and scare everyone else into trying the competition. I believe in journalism we call that FUD.
T-Mobile has allocated much more spectrum to their 3G network here in the Los Angeles area than AT&T has and I expect a much more user friendly experience.
I do love Apple products, but I agree they need a good dose of healthy competition. The iPhone is pretty and its nice, but it’s not the epitome of mobility perfection. I’m a lot more excited about future Android products that will come out after the G1 including those coming next year.
Everyone should check out T-Mobile’s 3G and E-GPRS maps. They’re available now. They don’t show signal strength yet but are in line with other industry 3G coverage maps offered by AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx
http://compass.t-mobile.com/default.aspx
T-Mobile is certainly expanding their coverage. Not only they have 3G released in over 20 lead markets by the end of 2008, they are planning on putting in towers where no one expects coverage from them. They are really looking to make a huge jump in the cell phone industry.The Google Android Platform phone that T-Mobile will be announcing on September 23rd publicly is their plan to take them to the top.
So excited! 3G tethering without having to pay an extra 30 bucks on top of my data plan?? Sweet
sorry guys i just can’t see this happening. Android OS is going to be a success but the G1 is crap. Just compare it to other HTC phones like the HD and the G1 seems like a step backward in the design direction. Part of what made the iPhone a success is that the hardware design is top-notch. The G1 is just another cheap plastic HTC toy. Now, put the Android OS onto the HD or one of the other touch models, then we’ll be seeing those sales figures happening. Im sorry but the G1 is just uglier than sin.
and please dont take me to be some iPhone fanboy, im a tmob subscriber and have been salivating for this phone for what seems like forever. When I saw the pics of the device, I was completely underwhelmed and dissapointed. And Im willing to bet a lot of people are going to be agreeing when the units ship.
Well, there are 3000 Google employees – each will get a free phone. Plus there are about 400 Google fans. There also can be around 100 people how will buy a phone under influence. That accounts for 3500 phones in total. How this analysts came up with 400,000 is just beyond my comprehension.
I think just of the buzz and the dev love alone this phone will push a lot of units. Obviously all the developers will need to get one if they are going to be making apps for it and I think aside from the sidekick T-mobile really doesn’t have an iconic product so this might be it. T-emporary MOBILE subscribers love qwerty keyboards so this is right up their alley. I don’t know about 400,000 but they will push a lot of units.
There is no way T-mobile has 400,000 subscribers ready to upgrade, or that 400,000 people are going to sign with T-Mo for this phone and 3G. Google must be planning on releasing an Android phone on Sprint before Thanksgiving at the latest, possibly even having an “ace-in-the-hole” option of releasing another, non-contract option before year’s end if they’re actually going to get these kind of numbers.
I love how people openly bash tmobile to sprint especially, when there ceo is on TV begging people to come into their stores. My old corporate owned sprint stores reps have a full time quota of 18 while when I a legacy sprint sales rep worked there had a monthly full time quota of 65. And your going to sit here and declare they dont have 400,000 eligible customers out of there 32 million total? Your ignorance is as owerwhelming as you declare design on g1 to be underwhelming. I wish people who are interested in wireless service do research from CREDIBLE sources not what commercials say…
my friends and family work all over the wireless industry and my att sources have declared that they are completely fed up with people coming in and asking them where the android device is. Lets not forget the speculated release date of this phone is still close to a month away and you think there will be no advertising? Google alone stands to make tons of money off of this phone based off its services included. And im sure since its the largest internet ad agency then it will have plenty of love over the web!