14 DAY TRIAL // As expected, Google is firing on all cylinders promoting its first mobile phone, the Nexus One. The phone will only be sold online, so it will need all the marketing it can get and so far Google seems to be delivering. If you want proof, look no further than the Google homepage which now prominently features an ad for the Nexus One, by all appearances only in the US, where the phone is actually available.
This isn't the first time that Google used the homepage to promote one of its products, but it is something it does very rarely and with serious consideration. The homepage features an online ad below the main elements, similar to what it has done before, saying "experience Nexus One, the new Android phone from Google." It links to the Google phone page, has a small image of the Nexus One and that's pretty much it, not that it needed anything else.
The Google homepage is one of the most visited pages on the web and Google treats it with an almost idolizing respect. The lengths to which the company goes to keep it as simple and as clutter free as possible are well documented. Most recently, it introduced a completely stripped-down version featuring just the logo the search bar and the buttons. In fact, this is the first ad since the fading home page was introduced and it shows up even before the rest of the elements are loaded.
The ad shouldn't be much of a surprise though, Google ran an ad on the homepage when the Motorola Droid was introduced, one of the most touted Android phones of late 2009. It also had one when the first Android device launched, the G1. It also featured small ads for Google Chrome or for the Google Toolbar for certain users and also for several charities. But, its not the only place Google is announcing its new phone; several official Google blogs, the Gmail blog, the Voice blog, the LatLong blog and even the YouTube one had a post about it.
