• May 11, 2010

Google got a boost Monday with NPD Group's report that Android-based phones outsold iPhones in the first quarter. That breakthrough was somewhat tempered by more bad news for the Nexus One, with Sprint telling Gizmodo it won't be selling the Google smartphone after all because of the upcoming release of the Android-powered Evo 4G phone.

Sprint's pullout follows on the heels of Verizon Wireless canceling plans to sell a version of the Nexus One last month, leaving T-Mobile as the only U.S. carrier selling the phone at a subsidized price with a contract. With the Nexus One selling only 135,000 units since launching to much fanfare in January, according to a mid-March report by Flurry, Google's effort to shake up the market by directly selling its own phone is petering out as carriers bail.

In announcing Verizon wouldn't support the Nexus One, Google itself encouraged consumers to buy the HTC Droid Incredible as an alternative with nearly all the same features as the Nexus One. So Google's own phone won't be the promised One to upend the wireless ecosystem, but one among many Android devices distributed by operators. Which isn't so bad if Google's broader aim is to win the war to dominate the mobile Web.