Nexus Shmexus: The Google Phone May Not Suck, but It Doesn't Sing

I don't get Nexus One, the Google phone. It seems like an expression of terrible ambivalence. All these expectations, all these competitive impulses, so they had to do something. But then, what?

The word that developed--the word Google let develop--was that the company had something in the works that would, in a stroke, challenge the proprietary philosophy of Apple's iPhone, and enable a constant, ubiquitous, ever-deepening connection to the information stream. The phone would be the next elemental link in the development of real-time media, the revolution of our time (or, anyway, of the moment). But instead it's a what...? Just an iPhonish phone. A bit less, or a bit more, depending on your level of Google love and awe.

It doesn't seem to be bad. Apple certainly needs the competition--the world benefits. The minor choice among carriers that it offers is better than Apple allowing no choice at all. Still, this is a lot of carrying on for a small adjustment to the smart-phone market.

So, what happened? The opportunity seemed to be Google's to seize and it punted.

Google's head of mobile told the Financial Times: "I said Google won't build hardware. We're software guys, we're Internet guys." Well, hmmm. You certainly implied you were going to build hardware, or didn't stop everybody else from implying it, and, as for being Internet guys, how come you're suddenly behaving like phone guys?

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