Bottlenecks and Google’s Acquisition of HTC’s Design Team

It has been reported by IDC that Google’s Pixel phones sold only about 2.8 million devices since launch a year ago, which is less than 1% of the total market, and totally unfitting for a company of Google’s wealth, dominant position and brand recognition.

It was not the appeal of the phone, the hardware, the software, nor the integration of the two that caused mediocre sales. Indeed, the Pixel phone was met with rave reviews and was sold out at least during the early launch period in the places where it was sold. Instead most people believe that it was the meagre supply and the dearth of distribution channels that made it very difficult for people to get hold of them.

If this is true, then what Google needs to do is to fix this bottleneck. It needs to fix manufacturing, component procurement, distribution and marketing and not the design of the phone. It needs to make sure that people can purchase them without undue difficulty. If Google can manufacture tens of millions of phones and make them available through the regular channels, then they will have a winner.

In short, instead of purchasing the hardware design division of HTC which will probably not help the supply and distribution issues at all, Google should hire people like Tim Cook, Phil Schiller and Eddy Cue.