Google launched in the U.S. earlier this year its own iPhone killer, the Nexus One Android. The launch plan centered on a bold step: selling the handset direct via its online shop. The thinking was simple: we designed this smart phone, we know it best. It forgot one thing: it doesn’t know mobile customers at all, triggering a nasty customer uproar that nearly sunk the Nexus One at launch. The saga didn’t end there. Late on Friday, Google pulled the plug on the shop and decided it will let the mobile operators handle the sales from here on in, putting to an end – let’s hope for good – that you can handle customer support simply with a nifty piece of HTML code. In its about-face, Google acknowledged, “it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from.”

It may have been a painful blog post to write, but this is a smart move. Launching a sophisticated product without proper customer support used to be a recipe for poor sales. Now, it’s a recipe for a reputation-damaging backlash against the brand.

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