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Part of the reason why they are cheaper is that they are made by many manufacturers with experience in large scale electronics production who compete strongly o
by lazaroclapp 12y ago
Part of the reason why they are cheaper is that they are made by many manufacturers with experience in large scale electronics production who compete strongly on price for most of their product lines. If Google had decided to launch Android by themselves with the electronics production capabilities they had at the time, it would have been priced like Google Glass. If they had partnered with a single manufacturer, it would still have been vastly more expensive than what they did.
Not that there aren't other important factors for Android's success, as even relatively expensive Android phones are quite competitive with iPhones in market-share. But even if you assume it is just price, that is an argument in favor of the multi-vendor strategy, not against.
- Bjartr 12y ago>it would have been priced like Google Glass. Glass was purposely priced out of the range of consumers. It was meant as an experimental platform only.
- lazaroclapp 12y agoSure, I know I am being hyperbolic. Still, it would have been priced higher than relative high end Android phones, have worse specs than mid-level phones and be perhaps better only in consistency and software-hardware integration (did I just accidentally describe the Nexus line?). It would not have beaten Apple at its own game and without a larger market-share and more friendly developer terms, it would not have had enough apps to achieve critical mass (and now I seem to be describing the Windows Phone...).