Google』s Nexus phone closes exclusive online store

Caroline Dobson

Although the 「Google phone」, the Nexus One, was launched in Hong Kong January 2010 but not in mainland China, it seems its availability may become more accessible soon. Nexus One is manufactured by the Taiwanese owned HTC and was originally available in only four regions: The US, UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong exclusively through Google』s online store.

However on Friday May 14 Google Inc. announced that it will close its online store on which was established to market its Nexus One phone, but now the internet giant is opting to shift to traditional retailers outlets to on sell its product.

The initiative marks the end of the Google』s attempt to develop a new sales model for the mobile industry, whereby its online store was supposed to be the only channel available to source the Nexus One smart phone. This move only confirms that that consumers were not enthusiastic about purchasing a phone that was available entirely online, preventing any direct hands-on experience.

「As with every innovation, some parts worked better than others,」 Andy Rubin, Google Engineering vice-president wrote in their official blog post. Rubin said Google will stop selling the Nexus One on its web-based platform completely once conventional retailers have been properly set up for the American market.

BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said in an interview with BBC: 「they clearly have retreated from the model of sort of revolutionising the method in which we acquire our smartphones.」

Laptop Magazine referred to the move as a 「lesson learned」.

Nexus One is just one of many different smart phones which operates Google Android operating system, which is meant to the first free, open source, and fully customisable mobile programme.