Google Nexus Q gets torn down, expensive because it's made in the USA

The Google Nexus Q media streamer is a gorgeous black gleaming ball that will fit perfectly every home, but one thing that won’t fit you so much is the price Google is asking for it. The Nexus Q will cost $300 and at least partly, that big price is so high because of the “Designed and manufactured in the USA” approach the search company took.

We can’t remember the last time, we’ve seen a mass device manufactured in the USA, and interestingly a recent report suggests that the company that manufactured the Q is 15 minutes away from Google’s head offices in California, but is the higher price a tradeoff customers will be happy about?

We don’t know the answer, nor do we know what the price would have been had the Nexus Q manufacturing been outsourced to say China. One thing that we like about this experiment though is that Google is willing to try.

“We’ve been absent for so long, we decided, ‘Why don’t we try it and see what happens?’” Android head Andy Rubin said.

The benefits of local manufacturing have started to match the cheaper but far away labor in Asia. Real-time collaboration plays a key role and so do the rising prices in China and growing transportation expenses. The components however are mostly in Asia and this is proving to be the biggest challenge for US-based manufacturing.

Quite honestly, if it wasn’t for the hefty price we’d absolutely love the Nexus Q - it’s beautifully designed and packs a TI OMAP 4460 chip, the very same that powers the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Luckily, the folks at Google (via Wired) have already torn down the Q and you can take a look at its beautiful internals in the slideshow below.

source: New York Times, Wired