Google Inc. plans to begin selling a cellphone directly to consumers as soon as next year, people familiar with the matter said, escalating the Internet giant's assault on the traditional business model of the wireless industry.

The phone, called Nexus One, was designed inside Google and will be sold, at least initially, without being subsidized by a wireless partner, these people said. It is the latest sign of the Internet giant's ever-broadening wireless ambitions as Google hunts for ways to expand its Internet services...