A quick update on the Nexus One, the Android phone Google (GOOG) will likely uncrate at the January 5 media event it announced yesterday. According to documents leaked to Gizmodo, Google plans to sell an unlocked and unsubsidized version of the device for $530, or with a two-year T-Mobile contract for $179.99.
If these documents are legitimate, they would appear to confirm that Google does indeed hope to rebalance the wireless market power structure, disintermediating carriers by selling the Nexus one directly to users who are then able to pick the wireless provider of their choice. But that $530 pricepoint is a bit daunting and it seems unlikely that many customers will be eager to pay it up front — even if they’re given a post-purchase carrier subsidy once they select a provider and a wireless contract. So while the Nexus One might shake the current wireless market model up a bit, it’s probably not going to upend it as it might have if Google sold the device at cost or subsidized it with online advertising. It may, however, set the bar for how an Android phone should be done and set the stage for some much-improved second generation Android devices.
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