Google has confirmed speculation that its new Nexus S device is to be manufactured by Samsung. The smartphone – which is the world’s first to run version 2.3 of the Android OS also known as Gingerbread, and also features NFC support – was revealed by Google CEO Eric Schmidt last month, but the identity of the vendor remained unknown. Among its other features are a 4 inch amoled touchscreen, front and rear facing cameras and 1 GHz processor. For developers, the Gingerbread SDK/NDK is now available. The Nexus S will be available from December 16 in the US where it “can be purchased (unlocked or with a T-Mobile service plan) online and instore from all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores”, according to a posting on the Google Mobile blog by Andy Rubin, the company’s  VP of engineering. The device will cost US$529 without a contract or  US$199 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile. From December 20, the Nexus S goes on sale in the UK with Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy retailers. In the UK, it will cost £550 without a contract or is free with a two-year contract from Vodafone which costs £35 per month.

Google’s decision to use the ‘Nexus’ brand is an interesting move. The first Google handset was the Nexus One, which was manufactured by HTC and went on sale in January this year. Google caused surprise when it announced that it would only sell the handset via its own online Web store. Such a move broke with traditional mobile industry business practices, bypassing the mobile operator retail stores that serve as a key distribution channel for mobile phones. However, shortly after launch reports spread that sales were poor, a suggestion Google has always denied. Google received the last shipments of the Nexus One in July and the devices are no longer available to consumers.