Vodafone confirms Nexus One UK pricing, but early sales disappointing

Vodafone has confirmed UK pricing for Google's Nexus One smartphone on its network, although sales figures suggest there might not be a great deal of people waiting for that information.

The Nexus One, which has a 3.7 inch touch-screen, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and runs on Google's Android OS, will be available from Vodafone from this Friday 30th April. You can get your mitts on one for free if you sign up for £35 per month over two years, or £40 per month for eighteen months - and if you're really keen, pre-ordering has already begun.

So far, however, sales of Google's first foray into handsets have been unremarkable. Initial estimates suggested that the company would shift 3.5 million Googlephones in the first year, but that was revised down to just 1 million after consumers didn't exactly flock to pick up the phone. After its January 5 launch, sales estimates in mid March were that only 135,000 had been sold - whereas Apple had sold a million of its first iPhone in a similar period.

It's being suggested that a lacklustre advertising and marketing push could be responsible for the slow sales; combined with the direct-to-consumer sales tactic: many people, it seems, prefer to buy phones from mobile operators. However, Google isn't giving up - the company is expected to widen the distribution of the Nexus One, and follow it up with an 'enterprise-focused' Nexus Two.