The Android seems poised for a breakout year in 2011. The smartphone operating system sold in growing numbers during the last part of 2010, and it appears as if Apple and the iPhone have a worthy opponent in the smartphone market. Even though the Android ended 2010 as a viable product, it started the year in less than spectacular fashion.
The HTC Nexus One was issued in January 2010. The Android smartphone was issued directly from Google and sought to bypass wireless carriers and get the phones directly to the consumer. The audacious plan might have provided people with the freedom to select a carrier, but it scared many consumers off. Phone prices are usually built into the price of a multiyear contract. Spaced over a few years the cost of paying a few hundred dollars for a device did not seem as bad. The high initial price of the phone was one drawback to the Nexus One. Lack of support was another. Reviewers gave the phone stellar reviews, but not enough to overcome the high price and the lack of advertisement from both carriers and, strangely enough, Google. The HTC Nexus One was off the market within six months of its release.
The 1980s are synonymous with the VCR platform wars between VHS and Betamax. VHS won the format war after years of battling back and forth. The 2000s seemed to offer a similar confrontation between Blu-ray and HD DVD. Sony Blu-ray made short work of the contest. Despite being named as an inferior format by CNET, Blu-ray won through business connections. Warner Brothers, Netflix, Best Buy and Wal-Mart backed the Blu-ray format. Against this alliance Toshiba’s HD DVD did not stand a chance. For consumers snookered into purchasing an HD DVD player it was a bitter pill to swallow. Hundreds of dollars were wasted on a purchase that became obsolete in a manner of months. Unline the Android, HD DVD stayed dead.