It used to be that anyone could buy a Nexus One smartphone from Google’s Web site, but no one wanted to. Now, the phone can only be purchased by registered Android developers, and it’s apparently become a hit, even though the price is the same.
Google’s Tim Bray blogs, “A couple of weeks ago, we arranged that registered developers could buy an unlocked Nexus One via their publisher page in Android Market. We think it’s a good development platform and a nice phone. Apparently, you agree. Somewhat too many of you, in fact; we blew through the (substantial) initial inventory in almost no time, and they’re back-ordered from HTC, who are doing a pretty good job of managing runaway success amid a worldwide AMOLED shortage. Everyone appreciates that it’s important to the platform to get phones in the hands of developers, so we’re working hard on re-stocking the shelves; stand by.”