There has been much lamenting across blogspace, after Google’s announcement that they had canceled their plans to produce the Nexus Two as a follow up to their Nexus One and it came as a surprise to many. This faculty for sudden change of direction is a sign of the company’s nimbleness Eric Schmidt (Google Chairman/CEO) told the The Telegraph in an interview last week.
Is there really any cause for sadness over the cancellation? I think not, in fact I think it augers well for Android. Remember, the whole purpose of the Nexus One was simply to give the Android platform a leg-up – surely the emergence of phones like the Droid X, the Evo 4G and the stunning Galaxy S suggest that it was successful in this. The only objection that I can see is that, as these phones come built with the manufacturer’s skins, there will be a longer wait for OS updates. True, but the beauty of open markets is that if that’s what customers start calling for, that’s what they’ll get. In part, this is what Schmidt meant by nimbleness, and besides, we’ve been promised that this flurry of updates will slow to an annual trickle as the OS matures and calms.
The Nexus One is a great phone, and looks fantastic. It was a sign of Google’s commitment to the industry. It led the way for the phones we see today and will see tomorrow. The fact that they had to cancel plans for its progeny is surely proof that it did its job almost too well.