Nexus One supplies dwindle as Google ends direct-to-consumer smartphone strategy

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) will stop selling the Nexus One smartphone online soon, noting on its Nexus One blog that the search giant received its final Nexus One shipment. Once those are sold, the company will no longer sell the device.

Purchases can still be made from some operators that agreed to carry the Nexus One, including Europe's Vodafone and Korea's KT. Other operators could possibly sell the device too "based on local market conditions," Google said. The Nexus One works on AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA's network, and T-Mobile sold the device with a subsidy. Checks on T-Mobile's website showed the device is no longer being sold through the operator.

Google also said it will continue to provide customer support for existing Nexus One users, and registered developers will continue to have access to the Android-based device. Google announced plans to end online sales of the Nexus One in May after it indicated that  it wasn't selling a Verizon Wireless version of the phone and Sprint said it wouldn't support the device as it preferred to focus on the HTC Evo 4G device that came out in June.

This direct-to-consumer approach was supposed to be another tool for opening up the mobile Internet worldwide and wrestle control away from operators. But the initiative was fraught with problems from the start, namely customer service and technical problems. Google simply wasn't willing to throw the resources, including marketing, to make itself a full-blown distributor of devices.

For more:
- read this Nexus One blog entry

Related Articles:
Google scraps Nexus One direct-to-consumer strategy; what's next?
Android 2.2 comes to Nexus One phones
Nexus One now compatible with AT&T's 3G network
Google: Nexus One profitable