After being released in the United States for quite a while now, Google have announced the launching of their Google Nexus One phone to be in April, for the United Kingdom. It will not be on sale in the average retail shops however – It’s only on sale online through the Google website, which you can find at Google.com/phone.

No tariff has been announced, nor the idea of a pay-as-you-go model, but the Nexus One will start off on the network Vodafone in the United Kingdom, possibly moving out to other networks in the future. It is expected that the pricing of the Nexus One will be pretty similar to the pricing of the iPhone to try and compete.

Vodafone apparently wanted a UK launch in March, but now both parties have settled for the release in April to give enough time for everything to be prepared and ready for release.

It was a very interesting idea to make the phone only purchasable online. It means that they’re probably limiting their sales to start with as most users tend to prefer to buy mobile phones in shops instead of online. It also means they’re heavily relying on word of mouth to promote their Nexus One phone. They may find it quite difficult to compete with Apple’s iPhone, considering the huge marketing campaign completed by Apple. It’s going to be interesting to see how Google are going to market this phone in the United Kingdom – Are they going to start doing the TV advertisements like Apple do, or are they just going to hope that their phone advertises itself virally?

Personally, I will look at the Google Nexus One and consider buying it. However, I’m currently very content with my iPhone, and many users like myself may find it quite difficult to make the switch from the familiar iPhone over to a new phone like the Nexus One.