By now, you know the details of Google’s first Google-branded, Google-sold “superphone,” the Nexus One: huge AMOLED touchscreen, thin-and-light form factor, available unlocked on T-Mobile, pervasive voice input, etc. And many have already reached for the easiest narrative in which to fit Google’s announcement: the Nexus One is Google’s attempt at an iPhone-killer.
But regardless of the simple conflict stories that the Nexus One announcement evokes, the reaction on Twitter and the comment thread for our liveblog show that the tech-savvy public already understands that the Nexus One is just another Android phone—the latest and greatest Android phone, and possibly even the latest and greatest smartphone—but an Android phone nonetheless.
The Nexus One may or may not be an iPhone killer (it probably isn’t), but it doesn’t matter, because the Nexus One was arguably the least significant thing that Google announced today. The real news at Google’s event this morning—news that could shake up the mobile industry just as thoroughly as the original iPhone announcement—wasn’t a phone at all, but a URL: http://google.com/phone. An online storefront that, if successful, could knock one of the major pillars out the current, much-reviled US carrier model and result in faster, cheaper, more flexible service for mobile users. Here’s how it works.
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