Google Kills off Nexus One

First the Microsoft Kin. Now Google's Nexus One has gone to that great smartphone graveyard in the sky.

The company quietly announced that had discontinued shipments. The Nexus One will still be available through carrier partners, including Vodafone in Europe and KT in Korea.

"Once we sell these devices, the Nexus One will no longer be available online from Google," according to the post.

Not exactly a huge surprise following Google's May decision to only sell the smartphone through its retail outlets.

Last month, Microsoft killed its Kin smartphone only two months after the product's introduction. But unlike the Kin, which was criticized for various shortcomings, tech historians may note that the Nexus One got off on the right foot. Reviewers writing about the device in January when the product debuted showered praise on the unit. Positive mentions, however, did not translate into big sales numbers. Google's estimated to have sold only about 135,000 units.

The Nexus One was a bit of an odd duck. Google has actively been promoting Android with various carrier partners selling smartphones such as the HTC Droid and the new Droid X from Motorola. As long as it sold the Nexus One on its own, Google was also courting the possibility of channel conflict.

In the end, as Adrian Kingsley-Hughes correctly points out, "something had to give. And It has."