Nexus One - A Smart Move by Google?

 Although Google and Apple appear to have very different market strategies - one sells phones, the other sells ads - the Nexus One smartphone, which was officially unveiled on Tuesday at Google's Mountain View headquarters, is seen as a game changer by some market analysts.

"Google's Nexus One is the first Android phone that may make Apple nervous because it does a few things better than the iPhone," Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal says on his Personal Technology video.

However, the New York Times cited Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin as saying that "It looks like a really cool phone, but it is not a game changer."

According to an NYT report, SearchEngineLand's editor Danny Sullivan said: "It would have been nice to see them roll out something really unique...It is more evolutionary than revolutionary."

Opinons differ, but the Nexus One aka the "superphone" looks like a serious competitor to Apple's iPhone. Most analysts are looking at a scenario where Google and Apple are on a collision course.

It remains to be seen how the marketplace pans out in the coming months.

The Nexus One is seen by analysts as a move to ensure Google remains relevant as people search the Web using mobile phones rather than typing queries into a PC.

If indications are true to form, Google is apparently setting its sight on the hardware market, starting with the much anticipated Nexus One which it will sell exclusively to consumers through its new online store.

On the one hand, Google is already facing a grudge match with old-school media baron Rupert Murdoch over the contentious issue of copyright and payment for online content.

Now, on the hardware front, Google's plan to sell the Nexus One on the Web could affect sales of Apple's iPhones and the Cupertino company is not expected to sit tight and not do anything while Goog intrudes into its territory.

According to a NYT report following the unveiling of the Nexus One, Apple has announced that it had acquired mobile advertising start-up Quattro Wireless, indicating that it has plans to attack Google's core advertising business. A tit-for-tat scenario looms large.