In a July 16 statement, Google said that it had received its last lot of its Nexus One handset shipments from manufacturer HTC; and that the Android 2.1-based handset will not be available after this last batch is sold out.

The Google statement implies that once this final batch of Nexus One handsets is gone, it’s gone forever - the company had already announced in May that it intends closing down its online phone store; thereby marking the culmination of its experiment in direct sales to the public.

The announcement also implicitly hints that the looming discontinuation of Nexus One handset will also mark the end of the so-called “Googlephone” – a term that stands for a Google-branded Android-based smartphone.

Nonetheless, despite the forthcoming end of the Nexus One handsets, the handset’s existing users – who have already started receiving upgrades to Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ version over the air in late June - will still be given support by the company.

In addition, the handset will still be available from local market retailers like ‘i Wireless’ in the midwest US; from Vodafone in Europe; and from KT in Korea.

Moreover, once the direct sales of the Nexus One are discontinued by Google, the company will work out partnerships to sell the handset via retailers. Registered developers who want to buy the Nexus One need to simply use their developer account to log into the Android Market Publisher site to buy the handset.