Would anyone care for a 'superphone?' Google's platform play with Nexus One

Droid + x = Nexus One

Google's Eric Tseng demonstrates the touchable weather app on Nexus One, which he described as 'Google-y.'

There's clearly a few missing items from many users' wish lists that remain unexplored by Nexus One, among them multitouch. Will there ever be such a feature on that model, or any future Google model?

With the same blunt, if ineffective, retort that he used two years ago in proclaiming that Google was not, and never would, build a phone, Google's Andy Rubin replied, "We leave the option open. It's essentially a software thing. We'll consider it." When pressed further, Rubin would only say, "We'll consider it."

If Android 2.1, and the versions to follow (which may not be too far from ready), will keep Nexus One on a par with Droid, then just how soon will customers expect something on the order of a "Nexus Two?" More to the point, how soon will such new models render obsolete phones whose users remain locked into two-year contracts, and will there be a big press event somewhere in-between?

The surprising answer from Google may be something Mario Queiroz wishes he could take back: "You're going to be waiting for a long time if you're going to wait for the next one." And in an attempt to clarify, Queiroz added, "If you need a great phone today, the Nexus One is a great phone. That's what I use as my primary device. There are others out there. It's a difficult question to answer in that regard."

Andy Rubin immediately asked questions of his own about the phone purchasing "platform," perhaps in a desperate effort to change the subject from what the press was leading towards. But it was only a brief distraction, as the very next question from the gallery was more of a rant.

"Google quite famously said you'd never do 'me, too' products; that if you do something, you wanted it to be revolutionary and different a fill a need that nobody else is matching," came the question from the reporter, who didn't identify himself. "The [Nexus One] phone, the voice input, looks awesome. Everything else, I kinda see that in phones that are out there already. This does not seem to be a huge revolutionary step. So why? Why are you putting all of Google behind this, when I'm getting a phone that can't support CDMA and GSM at the same time, can't support AT&T's 3G network and support T-Mobile's network? And more importantly, I think the pricing structure: It's boring, and it seems like every other pricing structure that's out there. And we've had Eric [Schmidt, Google's CEO] in the past say that, 'Hey, someday you're going to get an ad-supported mobile phone.' You guys are the ad kings. So if you're not going to roll out an ad-supported phone, who the hell's going to do it? Why are we getting these kinds of pricing structures; why are you not giving away a phone for people for free with ads? I want the revolution from Google; where is it?"

It was the type of tea party demonstration you'd never see at an Apple event. Rubin responded by saying he thought the pricing structure was actually "exciting." Then he attempted to quell the revolt by saying, "The first thing, before you can revolutionize the world and have all sorts of new options and new services and new features that are primarily -- what you're describing -- business models, not technology features, you have to have a mechanism by which you're selling product. So the first baby step here is, let's get an online store going, let's put the best-in-class products through that store, and let's figure out what the best way to enhance it is, in the future."

In the services and software field, Google has grown very accustomed to being able to trumpet incremental, granular, and occasionally trivial enhancements to features such as e-mail and map search. But that incremental approach did not translate well to Google's smartphones (call them what you will), which really needed a first-class send-off rather than something resembling a bake sale in the parking lot of the Dollar General. Nexus One may very well be a classy, functional, powerful something-phone. But we didn't see that fact proven today -- a sign that Google has a very long way to go to become an effective retailer.