Is the Nexus One honeymoon over for Google?

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It was just a week ago that Google officially unveiled its widely anticipated new phone, the Nexus One, and its new strategy designed to disrupt the mobile industry, an online store. Android fans rejoiced.

Then came customer questions about service plans, upgrades, shipping, etc. Surprise: Google doesn’t have the mobile industry’s army of customer support folks to respond, just FAQs, forums and e-mail. The slow response ticked off some. Then today shoppers discovered a penalty for early withdrawal.

‘Prepare the foot soldiers from the Internet Nerd Rage army for this one,’ says MobileCrunch. ‘Apparently if you buy a subsidized Google Nexus One and ‘cancel your wireless plan prior to 120 days of continuous wireless service,’ you’ll be charged the difference between what you paid for the device and its full retail price of $529. So at its current subsidized price of $179, you’d pay a $350 early termination fee. That fee is paid to Google, by the way, ‘and is in addition to any early termination fees that may be charged by your chosen carrier.’’

Update: A Google spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of the issues that have affected a small number of users, and are working quickly to fix any problems. We hope to have more information soon. When we do, we will post it to the user forum.’

-- Jessica Guynn