Google clears remaining Nexus One stock

Google posted notice today that it had already run out of stock of the Nexus One. It had warned of a clearance just last week but is now turning customers away. Registered developers are still supposed to have access, but as of noon Wednesday the company hadn't updated its pages to provide the alternative.

The sellout marks the formal end to the phone for most customers outside of a handful of carriers, such as KT in Korea and Vodafone UK. Google's handset had one of the shortest lifespans of any Android phone at just over six months. The search giant has spun the departure as coming after the Nexus One achieved the objective of spurring on phone development. All major US carriers now have at least one high-end Android device, including various editions of the Samsung Galaxy S, HTC's Droid Incredible and Evo 4G, and the Motorola Droid X.

It's commonly believed that poor sales still played a major part. Without retail, Google could neither draw walk-in customers or let customers test in advance. The company spent little time advertising the Android flagship even online, as it only made small notice of the phone on its home page and rarely ever ran ads in other areas. Google hasn't published figures but sold at just a fraction of the rate of its more readily available competitors.

The Nexus One was initially treated as Android's equivalent to the iPhone, since both the hardware and software were designed by Google. In more recent periods, however, it has served as an exception to the OS fragmentation that has hindered Android compared to the iPhone. Where Apple can guarantee that all supporting phones can run the latest OS the moment it's released, only the Nexus One has had the earliest access to new versions of Android. Custom UIs that dominate Android often mean waiting three or more months later to get the same fix, if the hardware designer chooses to update at all.

By Electronista Staff