Edible Apple

The effect is never as high as the mark-up.

Despite an onslaught of hype and a seemingly unprecedented amount of targeted web promotion, the Nexus One smartphone from Google has done little, if anything, to give the iPhone a run for its money. Chief among its problems is that it’s currently relegated solely to T-Mobile. And oh yes, let’s not forget about an inordinate number of complaints regarding Google’s level of customer service, or lack thereof.

But lest anyone think that the Nexus One was merely starting off slow and just waiting to spring into action as a competitive player in the smartphone marketplace, there is some news that suggests otherwise. Back in late April, word got out that Verizon, the largest carrier in the US, would not be supporting the Nexus One as they instead chose to focus on selling other smartphones like the HTC Droid Incredible.

Strike one.

And now comes another fastball right down the middle.

In an about face, Sprint is now abandoning its original plans to carry the Nexus One on its network. Speaking to Gizmodo, Sprint’s Michelle Leff Mermelstein explained that there was no need for them to sell the Nexus One in light of the “upcoming availability of the award-winning Evo 4G” from HTC which it touts as being a more robust and full-featured device.

And so it seems that the over-hyped Google Phone will ride off into the sunset with only T-mobile by its side. In the grand scheme of things, the Nexus One was simply another Android handset that just happened to have the Google brand attached to it. Apparently, though, that wasn’t enough to merit the attention and investment of carriers like Sprint and Verizon. Still, there’s no reason to scoff at Google. Their Android OS continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and just recently, quarterly sales of Android handsets in the US surpassed iPhone sales for the first time ever.