After Google shut down web sales of the Nexus One earlier this month, the company is moving swiftly to seed retail stores with the HTC-designed smartphone.

I wireless, a T-mobile affiliate will sell the Nexus One at its 250 stores mostly in the Midwest. But in stores, the Nexus One will be pretty pricey. The device is expected to be available for $300, after a $50 mail-in rebate, and with a T-Mobile contract. That is higher than the $180 Google had priced the Nexus One at in its web store.

It's the price that Google and customers must pay for the privilege of getting their hands on Nexus One before committing to buy the device.

Google introduced the HTC-designed Nexus One in January as a phone that would initially be available on T-Mobile’s network. But instead of being sold through T-Mobile stores, the search giant said it would sell Nexus Ones through its web site and handle customer support itself.

Though innovative and clever, the strategy didn't resonate with consumers. Nexus One's online store failed to catch on. Potential customers found they just couldn’t find a Nexus One in the real-world to play with, unless they knew a friend who already had the device.

“While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not,” wrote Andy Rubin, vice-president of engineering and Android czar at Google in a blog post. “It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters.”

The idea also gave rise to customer service complaints early on in the device's life. Customers complained about the poor tech support from Google–the company didn’t offer a telephone help line for weeks, instead asking people to send in e-mails.

Now Google seems to be taking the first steps towards getting Nexus Ones to stores. The high price tag on the device at retail, though, dampens our enthusiasm. But if Google can strike deals with Best Buy or other big electronics retail chains, it could offer the Nexus One in store for the same price as it was on the web.

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Photo: (Johncatral/Flickr)