"using some of its billions of dollars to subsidize the phone to the $99 price point" easy to suggest when it is not your billions of dollars being thrown away

"using some of its billions of dollars to subsidize the phone to the $99 price point" easy to suggest when it is not your billions of dollars being thrown away ;-) "This device, sold at or near cost, " (as jsz0 suggests) is a more reasonable strategy, since (a) Google's main revenue streams are not affected (probably enhanced) and (b) Apple and Nokia can't compete without reducing their profit. That said, I think Google is a sufficiently big company now to have mediocre middle managers who'd scuttle such "radical" ideas.