Another point with the N1 end is that it is the only phone running Android 2.2 (without hacked roms). This means that there are no phones a customer can buy to get Android 2.2 now.

Android is a great platform and I've been seeing more and more of them in the hands of people in the wild. But it's still a battle to tame the cell phone market as well as compete in the luxury smart phone category that Apple has captured.

Vodafone in Germany is supposed to sell N1, only they are out of stock and have problems getting enough of them to satisfy orders. The Vodafone N1 might not be as open as the Google N1, though :-(

The other day I had a crazy idea: what if some hardware maker would just create a good phone and leave it to customers and vendors to decide what operating system they want?

Most probably wouldn't bother, but it might make for a better feeling? For example, I don't think many Mac users actually use Bootcamp to run Windows on their Macs, but I suspect a lot of people felt more confident to switch to Macs given they had the option to revert to Windows at any time.

Promotion of the Nexus One was minimal and, seemingly, limited to Google's advertising network

Considering that it was featured on Google's home page like no product ever before, I wouldn't call that minimal.

I would've bought one if they released it for Verizon.

I'm really happy with my Nexus One. It's a shame these aren't in more people's hands.

It is an expensive device - on the face of it, rather more so than a shiny new iPhone 4, and it doesn't even come with a free case.

+1 for taking a cheap shot at Apple.