Google delays launch of Nexus One

Google is delaying the UK launch of its Nexus One mobile phone until mid-April.

The phone was meant to launch in the UK this month following its US debut in January. The search giant has not given a reason for the delay.

However, reports claim that it has put back the release date to avoid a rerun of the customer service issues which dogged the US release – problems which eventually caused it to launch a telephone customer support service after email-only proved a particular annoyance to customers.

The news comes on the back of last week’s announcement from investment bank Goldman Sachs that it was downgrading its forecast for Nexus One sales from 3.5 million to 1 million units in 2010.

If the Nexus One does launch in mid-April, it will be beaten into shops by the reportedly superior HTC Legend handset – which also runs Google’s Android operating system.