Google Pulls the Plug on the Nexus One

Google Nexus One

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After a fleeting existence of just eight months, Google has announced it will be discontinuing in-house sales of the Nexus One. Google's smartphone will still be available through Vodafone in the UK, but for how long, no-one can be sure.

Originality doesn't always pay off. It's not fair, but then hey, that's life. When releasing its first handset and flagship of the Android OS back in January, Google was determined to go it alone with no help (or funding) from network operators. Unfortunately, the risk doesn't seem to have paid off. Google had no doubt underestimated the power of the high-street contract retailers, but had perhaps also misjudged the habits of mobile-mad consumers, who generally like to handle a product in-store before they commit to buying. You certainly can't do that with a handset that's only available to buy online.

No matter how powerful it is (the Nexus One is the only phone to run on the very latest version of Google's mobile OS) and no matter how necessary it may have been for developers working on Android, it's true that Google was a little optimistic in hoping to sell shedloads of its unlocked, SIM-free smartphone at $530 a pop. But then, over-confidence is all too often the downfall of the plucky young newcomer ...

Passing on the flame

Google announced in a blog post that the firm had this week received its last shipment of Nexus One phones and that 'once we sell these devices, the Nexus One will no longer be available online from Google.' So as well as spelling curtains for the Nexus One, Friday's news also puts paid to any hope of seeing a Nexus Two.

So is this really such bad news? Well, probably not, as although the Nexus One certainly does have its qualities, Google can count on plenty of other mobile manufacturers to keep the Andriod flame alive. In fact, several analysts see Google's OS as a serious rival for Apple.

With HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Huawei, ZTE (and more) all on board the good ship Android, Google isn't exactly short of partners, and the firm's OS can be found in dozens of handsets, from entry-level models to high-end smartphones. With the success of such partnerships, Google has proudly announced that 160,000 new Android handsets are now activated each and every day. The firm does, however, seem a little less keen to shout about sales of the Nexus One ...

Fans of Android will almost certainly bemoan the loss of the Nexus One as an irreplaceable handset and bastion of the most 'pure' version of Google's open-source OS, needlessly corrupted by other manufacturers' own interfaces (HTC and Samsung, in particular). That said, hardcore Android fans can always deactivate the custom layers ...

Word on the street is that the Nexus One will continue to be available via Vodafone UK, although ultimately it looks like its days are numbered.

Nexus One devotees could always consider upgrading to an alternative HTC handset (NB: HTC manufactured the Nexus One). The Desire, for example, is an excellent copy of its defunct counterpart, and is also due to be updated to Android 2.2 (Froyo). Otherwise there are plenty of other very good Andriod smartphones out there to choose from, like the Samsung Galaxy S that we'll be testing next week, for example!

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