Google fails as a phone store?

ZD Net has declared, “Google’s online-only phone selling model has failed.” Today, Goldman-Sachs announced they will slash estimates for Nexus One sales by 70%. Can we call the experiment a failure?

The Google store was supposed to revolutionize how we bought phones, free from the high pressure sales of tiny phone stores across the country. The store may have opened with excitement from the blogging media, but poor customer support limited how much love was shown. to be fair, many in the blogging world picked up the Nexus One.

Is it fair to call it a failure? I don’t think so, and here is why: they’ve had one phone on one network. T-Mobile was the opening network way back when Android was a baby. It isn’t the most popular, nor is it the most robust. But T-Mobile is only part of the problem.

The other is advertising. Consumers buy phones based on advertising and putting some fingerprints on one in the local phone store. Who among us have the confidence to commit to 2-years on something we’ve never held (or seen if we have an allergic reaction to)? The answer for the most part is bloggers and uber-techies.

A coming Verizon variety of the Nexus One might solve a lot of this issue and could possible make Goldman-Sachs turn red. If Google puts some TV time behind the phone and Verizon lends a hand with yet more Android love, the Nexus One could ride into the spotlight again.

Will the Google Store be as successful as your local phone store? Or even discounters like Firefly or LetsTalk? No. We do see it becoming a place where those “in the know” can get the top tech. Anything beyond that is wishful thinking. We can’t help wondering how well the Nexus One would do in Verizon’s store.

Read: [ZD Net]