TechGreatest
Why Google Killed Off The Nexus 10 2
The Nexus 10 was great, says Paul Briden, but I’m not surprised it’s most likely been killed off
Google has recieved overwhelmingly positive feedback in terms of sales and reviews for many of its flagship Nexus devices, including the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 smartphones and both old and new iterations of the 7-inch Nexus 7.
Sales
The original Nexus 10 was fairly warmly recieved in the press, but in terms of sales, while it could hardly be considered a flop, it does appear to have been the weakest performer compared to its stable mates.
Google doesn’t provide sales figures, so this is a tricky one to call, but industry analysts have revealed fairly believable estimates during 2013.
In April 2013, analyst Benedict Evans made predictions of Nexus 10 sales (bearing in mind the slate launched in November 2012) based on correlating active Android user data and details from Google’s development information, specifically focusing on screen size and resolution of devices in use.
Evans believed there were around 6.8 million Nexus devices in use but only about 10 per cent, or 680,000, could be Nexus 10s.
Despite Android’s gains in tablet market share, this clearly isn’t happening off the back of the Nexus 10, as these figures, pinpoint accurate or not, pale in comparison to Apple’s iPad sales.
While Google’s Nexus 10 may have a hard core of extremely dedicated fans, from a business perspective this isn’t enough of a reason for Google to invest in a follow-up device.
Cost
A related factor is the cost of the Nexus 10 and any potential follow-up device, both in terms of what it costs Google to make it and how that is carried to the consumer.
Google’s big experiment with the Nexus smartphones and the Nexus 7 tablets was in offering premium-grade hardware at a distinctly non-premium price point and it’s an experiment which I think we can all agree is a success.
The Nexus 10 isn’t in the same sphere, however, with even higher-grade hardware but an expensive price tag to match (at the time of its launch anyway). Chief amongst the premium features is that massive 10.1-inch, 300 pixel-per-inch display, and display panels like that don’t come cheap.
where the heck is the nexus 10 2?! i should just look at another tablet cos CLEARLY @GooglePlay dont want my moneys— Dionne Josephs (@dididinosaur) December 3, 2013
This may be one of the reasons it didn’t sell so well, but due to the cost of making it being likely so much higher, Google is in a more difficult position when it comes to retailing it at a lower price point which might be more appealing to consumers.
The alternative, of course, is to drop the spec in order to drop the price, but for fans of the existing Nexus 10 this is unlikely to fly and it isn’t offering the same “value” proposition to new buyers as other members of the Nexus family anyway.
In short, Google is yet to figure out a way of offering a 10-inch device with a premium spec at the low cost which the majority of Nexus buyers require – that means reduced sales, which makes it a poor investment from the business perspective.
And that’s why we’re not looking at the impending launch of the Google Nexus 8.