Sony Ericsson CEO: Google asked us to build the Nexus One, we refused
Aw, why don't these CEOs say stuff like this in press conferences? Sony Ericsson's head Bert Nordberg has shared with Swedish publication Sydsvenskan the rather salacious news that his company was asked to build …
Context & Ripple Effects
Bert Nordberg has told Swedish daily Sydsvenskan that Google approached Sony Ericsson to build the phone that became the Nexus One, and that Sony Ericsson said no — a striking stance for a company that in 2008 publicly defended its decision to standardize on Windows and has been reported, so far only as rumor, to have Android-based Walkman and navigation devices planned for 2010.
The revelation lands in the middle of an unresolved argument over Google's first own-brand phone, which went on sale in January through invite-only online retail rather than carrier channels, and which commentary has framed as either a world-changer or a bad idea. An OEM chief declining the role on the record gives that skeptical camp a named insider.
First-order effects
- Sony Ericsson keeps its Android hardware work in-house under its own brand instead of becoming Google's contract manufacturer, preserving whatever margin and differentiation a Nexus-style build would have surrendered.
- Google proceeds with the Nexus One program without Sony Ericsson, relying on another manufacturing partner while selling the device directly through its invite-only web storefront.
Second-order effects
- Every other handset maker now faces the same fork in public: accept Google's offer and compete against its customers' brands, or refuse and hope the Nexus One's unsubsidized direct-sales price does not reset buyer expectations across the Android lineup.
- Sony Ericsson's refusal puts pressure on its own roadmap — the rumored Android Walkman-class devices for 2010 are now its answer to why an OEM would stay out of Google's hardware lane.
Third-order effects
- If more OEMs follow Nordberg's lead, Google's move down the stack stalls at the licensing layer; if they sign on, Android stratifies into Google-blessed reference hardware and a long tail of undifferentiated licensees — the exact dynamic analysts already flagged when criticizing the pace of Android's churn.
- The structural question this forces onto the handset industry is whether platform owners building their own devices turn hardware partners into commodity assemblers, pushing OEMs to differentiate through software and services or lose the customer relationship to the platform.
The trend: Google's shift from Android licensor to own-brand handset maker turns every OEM relationship into a strategic test — build for the platform owner or compete against it.