Last month, as details about the Nexus One began to leak out, I wanted to know how this phone was different from any other Android device. It turns out, it's not. It isn't that the Nexus One doesn't look like a great phone, it does, but what about all that talk of the phone being a paradigm-shifting game-changer?
The Nexus One looks like an awesome Android phone -- one of many awesome Android phones we expect to see in 2010 -- but the only unique feature to its name is how the phone is being made available. You have to get it from Google's own portal.
Clearly Google has its eyes on launching an Android Handset marketplace of sorts, and the Nexus One is the first step. Great, you can buy a phone direct and unlocked or get it on a contract. Aside from being tied to Google, I fail to see how that differs from buying from a carrier website or from some place like Amazon.com.
Honestly, it seems that the biggest takeaway from the event was that Google wants to control more of the entire Android experience, even if it means making themselves a middleman to actually distribute the phone. That in and of itself is interesting, but it seems completely unrelated to the phone.
I guess that's why the Nexus One hype machine and chamber of secrecy has me so confused. It's not about the phone, it's about completing a circuit. Google can now control the point of sale system, too, and can arguably use the power of its brand to move more units and drive greater Android-awareness.