Google Stops Selling Nexus One – The ‘Pure Android’ Handset Experience
Written by John Thompson on July 20, 2010 · Filed under Tech
As you probably know, we’re pretty big fans of Google’s Nexus One at Zath ever since we first heard about the Google Phone rumour and the subsequent official Nexus One announcement.
We then got the chance to review the Nexus One before it officially landed in the UK and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed personally using it since I got my hands on it back at the beginning of this year.
There’s a lot to like about Google’s mobile phone, with great support from developers meaning that all of Android’s latest and greatest came to it first. The Nexus One was rooted before Google even released it, thanks to some advanced testing prior to the release date.
Unfortunately, the Nexus One was always something of an experiment for Google, and it certainly catered for a niche market being available solely through Google’s Phone Web Store, meaning that customers couldn’t see it on the shelves before buying.
It appears that Google’s experiment has finally come to an end, just 6 months after launching back at CES 2010. Google has released a statement on their Nexus One news and updates website telling customers that they’ve received their last shipment of Nexus One’s, meaning that it’s no longer available through Google.
For those of you still wanting to get your hands on the device, however, and for existing users, Google has said that “customer support will still be available for current Nexus One customers. And Nexus One will continue to be sold by partners including Vodafone in Europe, KT in Korea, and possibly others based on local market conditions.”
I’m slightly disappointed that Google’s web store didn’t take off, as it means that carriers are still in control of how we buy phones. Despite this, Android is well and truly alive, growing at a remarkable rate, no doubt Google’s ‘ultimate’ or ‘pure’ Android handset experience set a standard and showed manufacturers the way to go with many of their Android handsets that were in development.
I’m sure we’ll see a lot more handsets enter the market before the end of the year and Android’s market share of the mobile market will only continue to increase and as the platform further develops with the forthcoming Android Gingerbread update.
Have you got a Nexus One yourself? – If so be sure to check out my picks for 11 of the best Android apps for the Nexus One)
What do you think to this news? Do you like the Nexus One and sad to see it have such a short retail life? Do you think Google should have handled the selling of this handset better? Or did it serve its purpose?
Do you think we’ll ever see a Nexus Two? Or will there not be a need for one given how the Android platform is growing?
Source: Google
Such a shame that this handset is being dropped – it is a stunner, and a genuine competitor to the iPhone. It is however an indication of how quickly Android products are developing that what was considered the ultimate model a couple of months ago has already been superceded.
I don’t quite understand why Google stops selling the Nexus phone..Btw I got a question….are they going to make a Nexus Two?
I highly doubt they’d release a nexus two unfortunately. There were rumours, but it seems unlikely. They’ll probably rely on HTC and other vendors
Hopefully they are just putting the Nexus One project on hold until they develop the Android technology more, then they might create the Nexus Two which will hopefully be more successful.