14 DAY TRIAL // Mountain View-based Internet company Google announced a few days ago that it would halt the online sales of Nexus One, the first (and only) handset running under Android to be sold online via the company's web store. While the device landed in the United States and Canada like this, it can be purchased in the UK via Vodafone, the first carrier to have Nexus One available via its website and in store.
Following Google's announcement on the cooling down of its webstore, Nexus One is now available for purchase in France too, via SFR, a carrier part of the Vodafone Group. The company has the Android 2.1-based device listed on its website at the moment, but it seems that it also plans on making it available in stores starting May 25, roughly a week from now.
The price tag for Nexus One at SFR ranges from 129€ on contract to 419€ on a Pay As You Go offer. The free of contract device comes without SFR customizations or the likes, and a recent article on androidguys suggests that it might actually be the same model that made it to Google's web store in the first place. SFR will have the phone available exclusively on its network for the next six months. The device can be seen at SFR here.
Vodafone is the carrier that will bring Nexus One to Europe, and it seems that it already started delivering it to more markets, after releasing it in the UK several weeks ago. It remains to be seen what other markets on the old continent will receive it, and it should be interesting to see whether the device will perform better than it did in the US since its launch at the beginning of the year. Being available via carriers might be a great advantage when it comes to sales volumes, and the fact that Vodafone UK went out of stock a few days after releasing the device should prove that.