This should have been an enterprise play. Delta needs 5,000 devices with a built in credit card reader. Macy's needs 25,000 devices with a built in barcode scanner. Delta doesn't need a massive battery life, Kohls needs minimum 8 hours. GM needs 175,000 phones with the barcode reader, a camera, and a rubberized body for their production lines. The phones don't have to be modular to the consumer - Google just needs to be able to snap a couple thousand together before shipment.

Buy your devices at the same place you buy your software support. It's now just one contract, and the connection between the software and hardware means you have a single point of failure (if the phone borks, call Google) instead of 2.

That it didn't happen could point to Google's enterprise game not being strong enough or the hardware not working out. Or maybe enterprise doesn't net them enough money compared to focusing on consumers.