WSJ: ‘Google to Start Selling Own Phone Without Wireless Partner by Next Year’

Jessica E. Vascellaro, reporting for The Wall Street Journal (link to get behind the WSJ paywall):

Google Inc. has designed a cellphone it plans to sell directly to consumers as soon as next year, according to people familiar with the matter. The phone is called the Nexus One and is being manufactured for Google by HTC Corp., these people said. It runs Android, the operating system for mobile phones that Google developed, they added. […]

The Internet giant is taking a new, and potentially risky, approach to selling the device. Rather than selling the phone through a wireless carrier — the way the bulk of phones are sold in the U.S. today — Google plans to sell the Nexus One itself online. Users will have to buy cellular service for the device separately.

No word on pricing. As for the risks:

The move could alienate wireless carriers and handset makers that offer Android phones and do not want to compete with Google.

I’ll bet Motorola and Verizon are delighted.

Saturday, 12 December 2009