Phone call
When a company of the size and influence of Google decides to get into a whole new market, it's bound to make waves. This is certainly the case with the Nexus One - the first mobile phone to bear the Google brand.
More on the handset itself shortly, but the greater significance of the launch could end up being Google's decision to become an e-tailer itself, because Google is selling the Nexus One direct.
A new web store: www.google.com/phone is offering the Nexus One and Google reckons the really innovative feature is that it's offering it SIM free. Quite how ground-breaking that is alone is debatable, as companies like Expansys have been selling SIM-free phones for quite a while now, but it must certainly be unsettling to mobile phone operators.
"We look forward to working with handset manufacturers and operators to bring more phones to market through this channel worldwide," said Andy Rubin, VP of engineering at Google.
The Nexus One costs $529 SIM-free or $179 as part of a $79.99 per month, two year contract with T-Mobile in the US. Consumers from the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong can also buy it SIM-free and Vodafone will be getting involved in Europe this spring.
