Google Discontinues the Nexus One Android Phone

The handset will still be sold through Vodafone in Europe and some Asian carriers, and developers will still be able to get their hands on one. However, it looks like the Droid phones and other third-party devices will carry the mantle for Google's Android mobile operating system in the United States. This is the end of the company's grand experiment with an unlocked consumer handset in the U.S.

Google announced the closure of the Nexus One web store two months ago; this final nail in the coffin was well overdue.

Google announced the end of the deal on its blog on Friday, but there was so little fanfare or interest in the story that the story slipped through the cracks. Although the Nexus One was popular with geeks, most American consumers probably just didn't understand the concept of an unlocked handset, and Google didn't put much marketing muscle behind the device.

Thus, it's no surprise that the phone has been discontinued and hardly anyone noticed. It's too bad, actually. It was a fine device, improved further by the Android 2.2 update a couple of weeks ago.

[via ReadWriteWeb]