Google makes most of its money through advertising and web services, but the company also brings in money through “other revenues” and sales of devices such as Nexus phones and tablets. So when Google reported its earnings for the latest quarter, the company noted that revenue is up year-over-year in just about every area.
But when it comes to that “other revenues” section, things are a little more complicated: revenue from content sold through the Google Play Store was up, but revenue from sales of Nexus hardware was down.
Neither fact is a big surprise: the number of people using Android phones, tablets and other devices continues to rise, which means the audience for Play Store content keeps getting bigger.
As for the Nexus news? Google introduced a new phone and a new tablet last year… and they were both kind of tough sells for many people.
The Nexus 6 is a smartphone with a 6 inch display and a $649 price tag. It’s a pretty great phone — but it costs more than some people are willing to pay, and it has a bigger screen than some people are willing to use. Since the past few Nexus smartphones have cost about half as much, many people had gotten used to thinking of Nexus phones as affordable and they were disappointed in the direction Google took.
The Nexus 9, meanwhile, is a speedy tablet with a starting price of $399… which is again kind of expensive by recent Nexus standards. The 2013 Nexus 7 had a list price of just $229.
I get the feeling Google’s OK with a dip in sales of these products. The company has never really tried to position its Nexus devices as must-have items. Instead they’re built in partnership with device makers to showcase some of the latest hardware and software working together. They make excellent developer phones, and Google offers them to non-developers who want to buy them as well.
But past Nexus devices have proven popular with Android enthusiasts, hackers, and bargain hunters. So it’s certainly notable, if not surprising, that Google’s latest devices have been less popular than their predecessors.
via 9to5Google and Android Central
It was impossible to even get the Damn Nexus 6 until early March of this year (the models people cared about like the white 64GB). They totally botched the release of that phone.
Hopefully in the future they let everyone pre-order ahead of time and then match production to demand.
In my humble opinion, they did themselves a great disservice by not going bigger with the tablet form factor and a lower price point. A Nexus 12 with lower to middle range specs, functional enough to stream popular video content, would have absolutely made sense. A 9″ compromise device at a premium iPad price point? I don’t know what they were thinking.
If Google would come out with a new 2015 7″ Nexus tablet (or 7.5″, or 8″), and as long as it is Fi ready, then I’m buying.
IMHO Google keeps missing the boat with their Nexus devices.
Either they bork the device with something like a craptastic battery & camera, or buggy updates turning you into a beta tester. Then there’s the issue that it was only for those in the know and willing to buy off-contract.
Then they go for the on-contract sale with THE highest priced Moto device — by Motorola’s own pricing the Nexus 6 is over-priced and stripped down. So, once again they bork up the device — it would have been a better device had it stayed a Moto X Pro.
And I really wanted a 6″ Nexus or Moto X. . . . but the poor screen quality + poor encryption + buggy software + no MHL/slimport + over-priced even by Motorola’s current lineup + selling out to carriers + rarely any availability via Google Play, etc. . . killed it for me. There are plenty of quality and much lower priced options to bother with all that.
By far the best phone I ever owned. Is like, everyday I wake up, I’m well please with the looks and performance of these phone. I have small hands and that is no issue for me to just grab with admiration at these beauty made beast. I no longer suffer from lusting over other phones and the grass doesn’t look greener on the other side of the fence. I just ignore all the bad propaganda thats no accurate, and keep enjoying it. The support on these phone is enormous and the updates are fast. I’m in love with these phone and will never go back to a smaller phone. It worth every penny I spend on it.
Have you ever seen a nexus 6 or 9 advert? They’re briefly alluded to in one of the android adverts but that’s all I’ve seen. The nexuses have never been great sellers, because no one knows about them. Instead the low price of the 4 and 5 got them attention, and the nexus 7 was advertised (and was selling well, unlike the 10 which no one knew about).
I hope they bring out another 7, and another 5 makes sense. But I hope they don’t drop the 6, as I love mine, and don’t mind paying extra for things like a high end camera. The point of the nexus is not to sell a lot – the OEMs can do that – it’s to be reference android devices.
What exactly is reference about it? That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. They are meant to beta test devices. Nexus owners report problems and Android gets fixed.
So they should pay us because we are the beta testers and reporting issues for them to fix?
That’s the brilliance of the Nexus program. Owners pay for the right to beta test… Think about it: Nexus gets every new release almost after the announcement. They are almost always plagued with bugs. Nexus owners report the bugs, Google fixes them, then owners of other phones get patched versions that are more stable much later. It’s the reality of the whole situation.
Personally,pure Google isn’t for me. I prefer more robust apps that come on some other phones such as camera apps. Pure Google lacks in some areas and 3rd party apps lack device integration sometimes. The OEMs do some pretty cool things sometimes.
Previous Nexus buyers dellusionally thought they bought top tier premium phones for a bargain. Reality hit when this version really is a high end phone – with an appropriate price to go, with it. That coupled with the antics from the likes of AT&T putting their bloat in and Verizon taking 6 months to approve the device, Nexus has become a mess.
If Google put SD card slots on their phones they would take off! But nope…
Sorry, but you greatly overestimate the demand for SD cards in phones. I’d be willing to bet that for the vast majority of smartphone users, the presence of an SD slot doesn’t even register as a concern.
It really depends on the consumer. Someone who either doesn’t listen to music or who streams rather than owing music, and/or who doesn’t have much in the way of image/video content would have little use for microSD.
But I don’t think David was referring to the “vast majority” of anything. The vast majority of smartphone purchasers get a 16GB device and then are shocked that in a month they only have 2GB of free space, and/or buy a thin device only to discover the battery life sucks. David was referring to to people who purchase smartphones based on relevant criteria.
You speak the truth. I ran my 32GB Nexus 5 out of space pretty fast since it didn’t have an SD card slot and the battery life was pretty terrible.
For most people, it probably would have been fine, I guess.
I’m glad for this. They are dense, and will likely follow up next year with the same lofty price points. A few suckers out there, but I’m sure it will be harder next year if this is their pricing model from now on. At this point pure Android is purely overrated.
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The situation is this. The updates are OVERRATED. Big deal. A few tweaks. It’s about tweaks, not overhauls. On top of that, industrial design makes me want to puke. The OS is mature at this point. Quick updates as a selling point is only for suckers at this point.
I deleted my post above because I fired off a reply without completely reading and digesting your post (lack of morning coffee) In hindsight, I agree with your post.
In reply to your most recent post, I would like to point out some of the updates contain security patches for things like SSL vulnerabilities. As more vulnerabilities are discovered, lack of updates means not being able to patch those.
No, quick updates aren’t for suckers. As Labmouse mentions, security patches are important to get out quickly. Having a shorter period from discovery to patch to release is absolutely a selling point compared to, say Samsung, who still haven’t fully rolled out an OS update made available almost 6 months ago, which has since been superseded.
“Quick & first to get updates” = beta tester.
Price for that is insane indeed.
I don’t see them pulling from the same group of consumers hardly at all. Also, the S6 was announced 2 months into the quarter.
It’s normal considering the current market conditions, the Good News is that the Google Playstore audience keep getting bigger.