Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Live coverage of Google's Android phone announcement | Relevant Results - CNET News

Some interesting excerpts from the Q&A portion of Google’s announcement today:

PC World wants to know more about Google's role, wondering why Google had to design the phone rather than being an HTC phone designed by HTC. Also, will the Droid get the new features? Rubin said it's inaccurate to say that Google designed the phone: Google is just merchandising it on the store, similar to any retailer, and HTC designed the phone. Google plans to open-source the software, so it will show up on other phones shortly.

[…]

Investor's Business Daily wants to know the revenue model for Google. Rubin says that Google's primary business, of course, is advertising. This phone is looking more like a laptop from five years ago, making it a phone that is good for Internet access, funneling people back into ads, he said. There is some opportunity to make margin on the unit sales, but that's not what Google is trying to do here, Rubin said. "This is the best possible Google experience," he said.

[…]

Someone asks why Google hasn't taken a revolutionary step forward with this phone, both in terms of features and pricing structures. Rubin says the pricing plans aren't boring, but emphasizes that before you can revolutionize the world with new business models, you have to be in the game itself. That's the idea behind the store, he says, to get up and running and then figure out what to do next.

Live coverage of Google's Android phone announcement | Relevant Results - CNET News

No comments: