Google have announced that they are stopping sales of the online only Nexus One Smartphone and will instead focus on selling the device through retail channels. This means that the phones will stop being sold online entirely.

Andy Rubin, Google's Vice President of Engineering said today: “While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations the web store has not. It has remained a niche channel for early adopters but it is clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone and they also want a wide range of service plans to choose from.”

The Nexus One was a big deal for Google and at the start of the year it launched in the US, only via the Google Web Store. Their initial focus was actually the reason for the failure because they wanted “To make the overall user experience simple: a simple purchasing process. simple service plans from operators and simple and worry free delivery and start up”.

The idea was good in theory but a huge portion of the buying public were not even aware it was available and some of those who might have been interested were not happy with the limited plans.

KitGuru says: sometimes retail is the only way to go

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