Although Google pulled the plug on consumer sales of its pioneering Nexus One in May, a "substantial" quantity of the Android-based smartphones has been snapped up by registered application developers in the past two weeks. In fact, Google said Thursday that the mobile device is selling so well that the Nexus One is currently unavailable.
"We blew through the initial inventory in almost no time, and they're back-ordered from HTC," noted Android Developers blogger Tim Bray. "Everyone appreciates that it's important to the platform to get phones in the hands of developers, so we're working hard on restocking the shelves."
The temporary hiatus in Nexus One availability is due in major part to a worldwide Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) shortage, Bray observed. According to iSuppli, the Nexus One's bill of materials costs $174.15 -- with the centerpiece the handset's advanced display.
AMOLED represented the sole display technology for which revenues increased sequentially in the second quarter of 2010 -- when DisplaySearch said both unit shipments and average prices increased. "This reflects the success AMOLED is finding in high-end smartphones" that are "demanding larger display sizes," the research firm's analysts said. "In the first quarter of 2010, the average screen size for AMOLED passed three inches, larger than TFT LCDs."
The Nexus One is valuable to developers because it arrives unlocked and runs the latest version of Google's Android OS -- known as Froyo, or Android 2.2. Developers "like unlocked phones because they want to put any version of the OS on it and then any app they like on it," said Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC.
The unlocked devices are compatible with most 3G (900/AWS/2100 MHz) networks, but North American carriers AT&T and Rogers Wireless use different 3G frequencies. So users with SIM cards for...
Posted: 2010-08-20 15:11:44
