Google’s Nexus One Smartphone couldn’t be sold online any more
Google Inc. said it will stop selling its Nexus One smartphone online and close its Web store as the Internet giant backed away from its effort to reshape the cellphone market by selling handsets directly to customers.
The Internet company Friday said in a blog post it would instead work with wireless carriers to make the phone available to consumers through existing retail stores.
Google said its Web store would morph into an "online store window" where it could showcase a variety of phones built with its Android software.
The reversal comes nearly five months after Google broke with convention, saying it would sell Nexus One through its Web store with or without a wireless contract.
The strategy met with lackluster results, including poor handling of customer service and weak sales.
Google hasn't disclosed sales of the Nexus One since it was released in January, but industry executives and analysts say sales have been disappointing.
The retreat is the latest blow for Nexus One, which Google was heavily involved in designing and marketing. Recently, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. said they wouldn't offer the device to their customers.
Andy Rubin, Google's Android chief, said in Friday's post that the company is "very happy" with the adoption of other Android handsets, even though the Web store has not met expectations.
"It's remained a niche channel for early adopters," he wrote, "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."
The handset, which was manufactured by HTC Corp., has sold for $529 without wireless service. It costs $179 for U.S. customers that commit to a two-year contract with Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA, the only U.S. carrier to offer a plan for Nexus One.
Sprint and Verizon Wireless, which is jointly owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, are both pointing to their own Android devices as alternatives to the Nexus One.
Vodafone last month began giving away Nexus One phones to U.K. customers who sign up for service plans and said the phone would be available in stores—the first departure from the online-only approach Google took in the U.S.