When Google unveiled its Nexus One early this year (January 2010, to be exact), people turned to the smartphone (or superphone as they called it) with a lot of anticipation, with only one question in their minds – will it perform like the highly-acclaimed iPhone from Apple? After six months in the market, the answer is crystal-clear no. Google has now decided to discontinue the Nexus One smartphone completely. The very last of the smartphones have arrived at Google’s headquarters, and there will be no more for consumers in the US after the shipment is completed. It won’t be entirely dead and gone, since it is still making great rounds in Europe where it is sold via Vodafone and in Asia through HTC.
What led to this decision? Google is saying good-bye to its venture with unlocked handsets because of bad sales. In fact, because of the disappointing numbers, they shutdown the entire store, ending an experiment with selling unlocked phones direct to consumers online. Google’s blog contained the information about its Nexus One discontinuation, but since the products were not getting much attention, neither did this ground-breaking news. For many, the real culprit was Google’s weak marketing strategies. For others, and many Americans, unlocked handsets were too much, even though this device roused interest among technology geeks. This is a rather quick but overdue decision from Google’s end. The product itself had great features, and was made even better two weeks ago, when the Android 2.2 was released in the market. But no one really noticed.