A day after Wal-Mart’s Web site was discovered promising the Nexus One as “coming soon,” the world’s biggest retailer said the posting was a mistake and it has no plan to offer Google’s troubled smartphone.
“Due to a technical error, [the Nexus One] was erroneously displayed on our site,” Wal-Mart spokesperson Anna Taylor said in a brief phone interview Wednesday. “We are working with our partner, Let’s Talk, to have it removed as quickly as possible. We have no plans to carry the Nexus One in Wal-Mart stores or online at this time.”
She declined to comment further when asked if a future deal is possible.
Google responded to a request for comment with a statement via e-mail: “We currently have no plans to distribute the Nexus One through any channel other than our Google-hosted web store.”
The telecommunications company Let’s Talk, which manages Wal-Mart’s online wireless sales, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Slow Sales
The page on Wal-Mart’s web site was discovered by a blog that covers the Android operating system, and another blog speculated that the Nexus One could be sold for as little as $99.
The technical data listed with the smartphone, which is manufactured by HTC, indicated that the Nexus One from Wal-Mart would be compatible with the Sprint Nextel, AT&T and Verizon Wireless networks. The current model sold directly by Google for $530 is unlocked, while T-Mobile sells a version for $180 with a two-year plan.
Early sales of the smartphone have been slow, with about 20,000 handsets sold in the first week, compared to smartphone leader Apple’s iPhone 3G, which sold more than a million in the first week. The Nexus One’s touchscreen design is meant to mimic the iPhone, but it has unique features such as dual microphones for noise reduction and a one-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor….
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