Google announced today that they would soon be closing the Nexus One store and would cease selling Nexus Ones to the public.  Google (AAPL) would make additional Nexus One devices available to developers through its Android developer program.

Support will still be offered to Nexus One customers:

Customer support will still be available for current Nexus One customers. And Nexus One will continue to be sold by partners including Vodafone in Europe, KT in Korea, and possibly others based on local market conditions.

The Nexus One was heralded as a pioneer in direct to consumer phone sales when it launched but it never picked up steam due largely to the fact that only T-mobile would subsidize it.  A special version was built for AT&T but it sold for $600 and wasn’t supported by the carrier.

Nexus Ones are popular with developers because they get Android OS updates first and don’t have any carrier skins or applications on them.

The store closing was a reason many analysts gave for lowering their GOOG forecasts in the run-up to yesterday’s earnings announcement.