If you’re planning to buy the Nexus One from Google’s online store so you can get it contract-free, you well, you better act fast. Google will soon stop selling their flagship Android phone online. Don’t think for a moment that this move means that Google is going to drop the Nexus One. This is merely a change in strategy.
It seems that Google has realized that people don’t like to buy phones without seeing them first, so they’re switching strategies and are selling the Nexus One via retail outlets.
From Google’s official blog, the changes to Nexus One’s availability are:
More retail availability. As we make Nexus One available in more countries we’ll follow the same model we’ve adopted in Europe, where we’re working with partners to offer Nexus One to consumers through existing retail channels. We’ll shift to a similar model globally.
From retail to viewing. Once we have increased the availability of Nexus One devices in stores, we’ll stop selling handsets via the web store, and will instead use it as an online store window to showcase a variety of Android phones available globally.
Innovation requires constant iteration. 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.
Once Google sees stable sales of the phone via traditional retail channels, they’ll pull the plug on the web store. They say that it was a great niche channel for early adopters, but it’s not for everyone.
