http://www.androidguys.com/2009/12/14/reuters-nexus-one-available-directly-through-google-website-january-5/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/14/AR2009121403454.html?wprss=rss_technology
this is great news, even if you don't have a data or voice plan with T-Mobile AT&T or some other service, you can use the phone with google voice over wifi.
I currently have a G1 and will definitely be picking up the new Google phone for $99. I'm going to convince my girlfriend to get one too. :D

Now the big decision.... Google Phone vs. Droid? Need more specs on Google Phone please. :D

While I remain a Google skeptic (Gmail is great, but I question their respect for consumer privacy), I am a huge fan of unlocked phones. The provider lock-ins are lame, so cheers for Google for producing an open phone.
Of course, Google isn't doing this for our benefit, so I discourage people from praising this as a purely "pro-consumer" move. Google needs to weaken wireless providers and ISPs to succeed in becoming the gatekeeper of all digital information.

they also need a low cost alternative to the iPod Touch.
That device does a lot of things a phone would, but obviously doesn't have a data plan.
The fact that you can buy this phone so cheaply without a data plan or a phone plan, is a real step towards tackling Apple.

it'd be better for them to go for an all in one machine wouldn't it? Reduces the amount of stuff a person has to carry

well it plays music, goes online, has a really awesome web browser, has games and apps, it pretty much does everything... and it syncs podcasts, has gps, and takes pictures too.

Then why make a dedicated ipod competitor when they seem to have made a phone that does it already?

because the phone is tied to a contract, by making the device unlocked and cheap, it can compete in more markets (i.e. PSPgo/iPod market).

My problem with these kind of phones (which i REALLY want!!) is the huge cost of the data plans. They're essentially useless without an unlimited plan, and those tend to add up to a pretty hefty monthly fee. :-(

it looks like AT&T and T-mobile both have pay as you go, noncontract data plans, also if you have Wifi at home, these phones connect to wifi signals which will use your wifi's data instead of your phone's data.

So, you buy a smartphone to use it on the Internet at your home to not to drain off your money? Oh wow, that's a real revolution! :-D
Another "offer" to pull money from people, but in "Google style". That is like to be fucked anally with a flower-decorated shotgun. C'mon....

Fuck it, google is getting their hands into bloody everything these days. They release a browser, say they're going to release an OS, everything you've ever done is soon searchable, and just recently I was informed on my Youtube account that I needed to log in with my Gmail credentials instead in the near future. As well of it telling me it had already shared my youtube account information with all my gmail contacts. Splendid. Luckily I was able to turn off that particular "feature".
Google isn't "all good" anymore. It's not a cute, innovative startup like we've pictured, it's becoming some kind of deep sea behemoth that wants to stick a tentacle up anything that goes on in todays connected world.

that's just it though, it's not just a smart phone. it's a gaming platform, a music player, and it'll allow use like a smart phone thru data only.

Bullshits :-D
Because if we're talking about serious things here, we must give for granted that the iPhone crap and other "platforms" of this kind ARE NOT gaming platforms, just worthless, joypad-less and fun-less gadgets that will end up being the worst disappointment of an entire industry headed by blind, blood-sucking, gaming-illiterate executives. A damn smartphone is a smartphone, not a computer.
Contrariwise, if you want consider this crap called "mobile gaming" as something worth more that two words of scorn well, I can say "wow, a Google phone, wow, a new gaming platform, wow, what a revolution, wow, I'll play Prince of Persia Sands of Space on the go" and so on....

Google is getting too big and offering too many things for cheap, its going to drive all its competition out of business and become a huge monopoly in the long run, which is bad. Competition = good. I like google in general (but although someone already mentioned its privacy issues, which i agree with), but I would rather see them stay at the size they are at or smaller, not bigger.