Google’s Director of Business Strategy for Android Calls $299 Nexus 4 “Revolutionary”

For Google, offering today’s top technologies in a package that is affordable for all is their number one goal, made clear by their Director of Business Strategy for Android. John Lagerling, the man pictured above, was recently interviewed by The New York Times, and shed plenty of light on their ideas behind the Nexus lineup, Google’s work with Motorola, and working with their partners to create revolutionary devices for prices that crush the competition’s. 

When asked how they went about lowering the price of their devices from what people are used to seeing, Lagerling offered up an easy answer:

“Basically we felt that we wanted to prove you don’t have to charge $600 to deliver a phone that has the latest-generation technologies. Simply that level of margin is sometimes even unreasonable, and we believed that we could do this. Between us and our partners we have a very good understanding of supply chains. We’ve all done the best we can to really reach these prices — $399, $299 is pretty amazing, if I may say so.”

The interviewer didn’t shy away from asking about Google’s intentions with Motorola, which was met with a quick, “The way I understand it is, it’s mostly about the patents, the way you can sort of disarm this huge attack against Android.” Although, he did point out that Motorola doesn’t exactly see eye-to-eye on Google’s idea of competitive pricing for consumers. Manufacturers, Motorola included, want to keep pricing high so carriers can subsidize devices highly, which means larger profit margins. You can’t blame them, but Google has much different plans.

We simply believe there’s a better way of doing it without extracting that much payment from end users, because there are other ways to drive revenues. Patents were used as a weapon to try to stop that evolution and scare people away from lower-cost alternatives. And I think with the Motorola acquisition we’ve shown we’re able to put skin in the game and push back.

To read the full interview, which I would recommend, then follow the via down below. You have to admit, a $299 Nexus 4 is incredibly awesome, even without LTE.

Via: Bits

Cheers Thanassi!