Telecom Trends

Alec Saunders observed on his blog that Canadians should avoid Google's new Nexus One device, for now. While Google has chosen not to even offer the phone for direct sale in Canada, sites like Mobile Syrup offer step-by-step instructions on how Canadians can get the device.

But as Alec points out, Google did more than restrict its distribution channels. For some reason, Google chose to not enable 3G on the most popular radio frequencies used in North America - 850 and 1900 MHz.

In other words, Google has effectively optimized the device for T-Mobile in the US and perhaps the nascent AWS spectrum winners in Canada. In a well publicized blog posting last December, Google's SVP of Product Management, Jonathan Rosenberg wrote about "The meaning of open."

At Google we believe that open systems win. They lead to more innovation, value, and freedom of choice for consumers, and a vibrant, profitable, and competitive ecosystem for businesses. ...

So if you are trying to grow an entire industry as broadly as possible, open systems trump closed. And that is exactly what we are trying to do with the Internet. Our commitment to open systems is not altruistic.

By choosing not to enable 3G on the most widely used bands, it sure looks like Google has artificially created an effectively exclusive network distribution for T-Mobile, while maintaining the appearance of support for open, and unlocked technologies.

Perhaps Google is simply trying to work out bugs in its supply chain, fulfillment and customer support networks by limiting the device's operational functionality to fewer networks. There are no shortage of complaints about customer service for the Nexus One (The search terms "Nexus One complaints" produces 1.1M hits on Google).

However, when customers are paying more than $500 for a supposedly unlocked and open device, don't they expect to be able to use it on other networks?