Google selling off last batch of Nexus Ones

Google will stop shipping the Nexus One directly when the final batch sells out

Google has confirmed that the Nexus One smartphone will not be sold on its web site after the latest shipment sells out.

The announcement comes just weeks after the search firm said that it has no plans to produce another smartphone because it has achieved all its objectives with the Nexus One.

These objectives were to "introduce a beacon of innovation among Android handsets, and to make it quick and easy for people to buy an Android phone", Google said.

The Nexus One will continue to be sold by Google partners, including Vodafone in Europe and KT in Korea, and possibly others based on local market conditions, Google said in a blog post.

Support will still be available for current Nexus One customers, the company added.

Analysts were not surprised at the announcement, believing that Google successfully achieved most of its objectives with the Nexus One.

The priority was to gain a higher profile in the smartphone market and inject momentum into the Android community, according to Tim Shepherd, an analyst at Canalys.

"Google did a good job of minimising the fragmentation [of Android], which is very important in the early stages of a platform," he said.

"However, the business model of selling the device to customers directly did not really work. The phones were expensive, and markets, especially European, were not ready to buy devices directly."

Although the business model was not hugely successful, Shepherd did not rule out another device from Google. But he warned that such a move could put the company in a difficult position.

"Having Google as a vendor is difficult for other retailers as they don't want to compete with partners," he said.

Francisco Jeronimo, research manager for European mobile devices at IDC, suggested that the Nexus One was a "premium device and doubled as a very good marketing campaign".

"If sales had been successful, Google may have planned future devices. But other manufacturers are launching devices on Google's behalf, and the HTC Desire is doing well."

Jeronimo forecasted that Android will be the second biggest mobile operating system in western Europe by 2013, as it is growing rapidly and has strong support.