Verizon drops plans to carry Nexus One

Divorce comes amidst Verizon iPhone rumors. Google's hope of strongarming telecoms proves ellusive.

As rumors swirl about Verizon carrying the forthcoming iPhone 4G, the company has apparently backed out of an impending deal with Google. Until today, Google’s Nexus One store indicated that the phone would be “coming soon” to Verizon. The screenshot below is from a cached image from this past Friday, 4/25/10.

Today, however that notice has been replaced by a link to buy the Droid Incredible, which begins shipping Thursday. There is no further indication that Verizon will carry the Nexus One. “For Verizon's network,” the Google store notice reads, “you can buy the Droid Incredible by HTC, a powerful Android phone and similarly feature-packed cousin of the Nexus One.”

Google and Apple have squared off a mobile device war, with competing handsets, phone app stores and operating systems. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has revved his criticism of Google’s mobile operating system Android in recent weeks, noting that it has no curbs on porn apps. Google for its part snatched mobile ad network AdMob out from under Apple’s 

Carriers are not allowed to sell the Nexus One in their stores, forcing consumers to buy through Google. The device was made available on T-Mobile’s network, but from Day 1, it was clear Google wanted it to be carrier-agnostic: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile were all listed as potential carriers. However, the device did not sell well. That did not sit well with carriers. AT&T decided not to endorse the phone, and now Verizon has opted out.

When the news broke at 11:08 ET this morning ,Google’s shares dropped $7.27.