The Nexus One Google Phone Blomb

If you keep up to date with any IT/Sci/Tech news feeds or blogs then you've probably already read all about the Nexus One, Google's supposedly miracle phone that will make everyone forget the iPhone ever existed and change the world as we know it.

This all started some time during the weekend when some Google employees started twittering about a new development phone they've been handed. A few blogs pick this up and start making wild speculations that Google is entering the hardware market and selling their own phone directly thus making this the official Google Phone that will put an end to all other Android devices and be the new king of the hill.

This gets picked up by other IT/tech news sites and exponentially spreads throughout the blogosphere. The information is rehashed and remixed with further opinions and speculations thrown in, morphing and expanding in grandeur and authority as it spreads. I call this the blomb, i.e. a blogosphere-bomb.

A few realists however have tried to put this back into perspective. Google has previously released two other developer phones, the HTC G1 and HTC My Touch. Both can be bought by anyone who signs up as a Google developer for a once off cost of $25. These two phones are also available through carrier plans and come with a 'with Google' branding on the casing. This new Nexus One is most likely going to follow suite, i.e. it's just a new HTC phone running the latest Android for developers to play with. Anyone can become a Google developer and buy it. And the rest of the world will soon be able to buy a variation through carriers.

Needless to say, there's also the HTC Bravo coming out 2nd quarter next year which is almost identical to the Nexus One in every way, plus a whole bunch of other HTC Android phones coming later during the year. So why would Google all of a sudden decide to publicly release and back the Nexus One as the one and only TRUE Google Phone and alienate all other Android manufacturers, including their partner HTC who has numerous models in the pipeline? It makes very little sense, yet many choose to ignore these details.

The whole Nexus One blomb also has a strong American tint to it. The US market is controller entirely by carriers where almost all phones are purchased and subsidized through long contracts. Also the carriers use different transmission standards making switching from one network to another incompatible. The idea of an unlocked, outright phone that can be used on any network seems a little unusual and revolutionary to them, whereas in other parts of the world this is quite normal. In Australia for example, you can buy an unlocked tri-band phone that supports all the major carriers. Just pop-in a pre-paid SIM you buy from a petrol station and away you go!

Don't fall for the hype and gossip. People like to make wild predictions but at the end of the day this is just another Android phone. Nothing to see here, move along.