There seemed to be some kind of media backlash against this phone in the US but they're selling it unbranded on Vodafone in Europe and the HTC Desire appears to be fundamentally the same phone (sold with the Sense UI, but again without carrier branding). I can't see how the phone hardware, as opposed to the attempt to change the sales channels in the US, can be considered any kind of white elephant.
That's a good point about the Desire. If Google does make a Nexus Two, I guess that's how they'd do it - ride on the back of an already-developed smartphone.
Still, the web store for the Nexus One is going away - that seems to indicate that Google has lost interest in selling Google-branded phones. We can always hope they'll change their minds...
I don't think the article mentions when it's being closed. And considering you can typically get any GSM/HSPA phone unlocked somewhere, I'm sure the Nexus One will still be available. Most 'unlocked phone stores' have gruesome markups though, and it was something of an anomoly that you could get such an advanced phone as the Nexus One unlocked for just $530. Just looking at a couple of online merchants, both Plemix.com and exoticphone.com both have the audacity to sell the Nexus One itself for a hefty markup!
The Plemix.com one is especially amusing - it claims that $629 is a mark-down, and that the original price was $854! Keep in mind that Google has always and still is selling the Nexus One for $529 in their web store.
