Google temporarily removes Galaxy Nexus from web store

Google has pulled its Galaxy Nexus smartphone from its Play Store. That probably has to do with the sales ban that a judge imposed on Apple. Adjusting the search software should make sales possible again.

Last week, a US judge imposed a sales ban after Apple had made it plausible that Google and Samsung were infringing four different patents of the company with the Galaxy Nexus. One of those patents relates to a universal search system in which results are shown from various sources based on a search term.

If sales resume next week, it may be with a modified version of the recently announced Android Jelly Bean. Google and Samsung say they already have a patch ready that should partially undo the patent infringement. The patch would simplify the results of a search on the device: instead of searching both the web and the phone itself, users would see the web results of the search directly. Searching both the phone content and the web has been in Android for a long time. Apple uses that technology in the Spotlight feature of iOS.

Instead of a button with which the smartphone can be purchased, it now only says that the device will be available soon. In a response to website The Verge, Google says that this is a temporary situation; sales would resume next week. It is unclear whether the software change will be enough to make sales possible again.