January 14, 2010, 1:35 PM — There I was, sitting in Las Vegas Airport after CES. The WiFi in the airport is now 'sponsored' by Google. Indeed when I brought up my favorite time-killing web game, the Nexus One had the primary GoogleAds position, waiting for me to click. As I'm currently looking at my bricked HTC Touch Pro, I easily resisted. Others have not, and are buying. What they say afterwards in some cases has been negative, although it's otherwise being well received.
Data suggests that Google's Nexus One didn't have the sales explosion that Motorola's Droid did during the opening week campaign. Worse, Google's been slammed about problem with its US carrier partner, T-Mobile. Google will learn. One gets the feeling that the relationship with T-Mobile was a given, as AT&T wouldn't carry the phone, and AT&T is the only other viable GSM partner in the US.
LG announced that more than half its new smartphones will use Android, the common operating system among the Nexus One, Droid, G1, and so on.
Windows Mobile seems like Windows Stationary, as Microsoft's Version 7 of its operating system seems to be MIA. In the interim, the business ecosystems of the iPhone and Android and even Moblin continue to grow and perhaps flourish. Capturing huge marketshare is what Microsoft is all about, so I find it head-scratchingly strange that Windows Mobile is so far behind.
What will happen? Microsoft will have lost mindshare, just like Apple's loss of mindshare over its late release of its iSlate. This is curious-- two venerable leaders, known for building ecosystems and fulfillment mechanisms, left in the dust. They're not going to like that.
