As compared to first month sales of the iPhone (about 600,000) and the Droid (about 525,000), sales of the Nexus One do appear to be moving along rather slowly. A lot of factors probably contribute to the relatively low numbers, key among them the lack of traditional marketing expenditure (as compared to, say, the $100 million ad campaign for the Droid) and Google's direct-to-consumer sales approach, which, although innovative, is simply not something the typical mobile consumer is used to.
Add to that its support for 3G on T-Mobile only, reports of support problems for the device, plus reports of 3G issues -- although the latter has reportedly been addressed in the latest software update.
On the other hand, we know the Nexus One won't be the only horse Google will be backing in its bid to upend business as usual in the mobile marketplace. Motorola is already working on another direct-to-consumer device with the search giant, and the Android operating itself is starting to see impressive growth overall. So it's not all bad news, but we can't help but wonder how Nexus One sales compare to Google's hopes for the handset.