Nexus One Has Opening Week Sales of 20,000

Were you one of the first to jump on the Nexus One bandwagon? If so, you could throw a pretty intimate party with your colleagues. According to an estimate developed by analytics firm Flurry, holiday-season hype inducer Nexus One sold a pretty flat 20,000 units during its first week on the market. This pales in comparison to other major launches of recent memory–Flurry cites the Motorola Droid’s first week sales at 250,000 and the iPhone 3GS at a staggering 1.6 million. Not great news for Google’s first phone, though Flurry cites a difficulty in comparing “apples to apples” given Google’s unique, direct-to-consumer retail approach.

Also cited as reasons for the Nexus One’s dismal sales are the overhyped atmosphere in which it was launched–hype that failed to solidify into true product excitement and demand once the phone was launched. Another reason is the lack of marketing, which was a huge factor in fueling the Droid’s success. Also clearly not helping is Google’s bumbling approach to customer service and the negative press its received in that regard.

While the Nexus One and Google’s direct-to-consumer business model may have a big impact in the long term, it’s chipping away very modestly thus far. [via Flurry]