Google To Stop Selling Nexus One Smartphones Online

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Most anyone that has been following any of the recent Nexus One news will likely take this bit of news with little surprise. Still, it has to be said — Google has just announced plans to stop selling the Nexus One in their online store.

Like I said, not a surprise, after all just recently both Verizon Wireless as well as Sprint have decided against offering the Nexus One. In the case of Verizon, they launched the HTC Incredible and Sprint went with the HTC EVO 4G. Its hard to argue that those are both more than capable smartphones, but still, there was something special about the Nexus One and its vanilla Android installation. Read: no Sense UI.

Interestingly enough, it seems Google has admitted defeat. According to the Official Google Blog;

“But, as with every innovation, some parts worked better than others. While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not. It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from.”

Honestly I could not have said it any better myself. Early adopters and geeks will buy just about anything, so really there was no challenge there. But as for my non-geek friends — they could never imagine buying a mobile phone without playing with it (and bugging the store rep with 5 million silly questions).

Moving forward though, Google has laid out some plans which include making the Nexus One available in more retail locations as well as turning the current Nexus One online store into an “online store window to showcase a variety of Android phones available globally.”

Basically, once this has taken place you will be able to visit www.google.com/phone and window shop. Of course, in the end it seems they are just taking this in stride.

“We believe that the changes we’re announcing today will help get more phones to more people quicker, which is good for the entire Android ecosystem: users, partners and also Google.”

So much for Google and the Nexus One teaching the carriers anything about how people want to buy a phone. It seems that in the end, it was the other way around.