Despite coming in second in ReadWriteWeb’s 2010 Best of the Web poll, the sales numbers for Google’s Nexus One were dismal. In the same amount of time it took Apple to sell 1 million iPhones, Google only sold 135,000 of the Android-powered Nexus.
Now, Google is discontinuing the Nexus One altogether. On July 16, the company announced that it received its final order from the phone’s manufacturer, HTC.
The Android ecosystem as a whole is in no danger. There are a host of phones available running on that platform. By one measure, Android is even outpacing iOS. But the Nexus One was the Google phone, as opposed to simply an Android phone. Perhaps Google has found manufacturing and marketing hardware is outside their comfort zone.
Like all situations in which a product is gone forever, it’s not gone forever. Customers will still be able to buy the Nexus One in Europe and developers will be able to lay their hands on it for the time being.
“Nexus One will continue to be sold by partners including Vodafone in Europe, KT in Korea, and possibly others based on local market conditions. To ensure our developers have access to a phone with the latest Android OS, Google will be offering the Nexus One through a partner for sale to registered developers.”
Customer service will still be provided for the Nexus One, even after it is no longer available from Google.
In other “discontinued smart phone” news, WMExperts reports that all Kin phones remaining at retailers are being sent back to Microsoft beginning today. What will be done to them is anyone’s guess.
