11:00 AM This time with love for the carriers, but only those with the purest of Android phones

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

September 30, 2010

1 Min Read
Google Store Reopens

11:00 AM -- Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is turning its failed attempt at an online store to sell its Nexus One into a showcase for the growing list of Android phones and the carriers that support them. (See Google Nixes Nexus Web Sales.)

The Google Phone Gallery, which sports the same URL as Google's first store, is aimed at making the phone selection process easier on consumers, who may want to filter by country, manufacturer, carrier, or features. Whereas the first iteration of the store was aimed at circumventing the carriers in the buying process, this one actually embraces them, leaving the final purchase up to them.

It is, however, only for those consumers who want the purest of Google devices.

In introducing the Gallery, Ben Serridge, Android product manager, writes in a blog post that "all the phones in the gallery include Android Market, Google Search, and other Google Mobile services such as Gmail, Maps, and YouTube."

As a result, the site doesn't include the Samsung Corp. Fascinate from Verizon Wireless , which uses Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) Bing for search. Nor does it include the Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) Backflip, which AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) pre-installed with Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) search. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications is also absent from the list of 22 phones.

More phones will be added to the site, Serridge writes, but you can bet Google won't be embracing the bastard children of its open OS anytime soon.

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Reporter, Light Reading Mobile

About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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