Google Nexus One selling slower than Palm Pre?

Google’s HTC made Nexus One is well known for not setting any sales records, but now Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is predicting sales that in this day and age can only be called abysmal.

Munster said in a research note:

While we view Google’s Nexus One as the most advanced Android phone available to date, we believe that based on checks from Piper Jaffray analyst Mike Walkley and data released by mobile analytics companies, the phone has not seen the same success in the market as the Droid and other alternatives. Previously we expected the phone would ultimately reach carrier stores for sale, which has not yet happened. Our prior estimate of 350k Nexus One’s sold in Q1 appears aggressive and we believe the number may be closer to 160k for Q1; this represents a $100 million reduction to top-line revenue, but a $0.06 improvement to earnings as we expect Nexus One to carry a lower operating margin than Google’s core search product, for which we increased estimates.

The handset was called the first “super smartphone” by Google, but has been plagued by issues such as poor screen responsiveness, poor daylight performance and lack of support by Google which has seen both enthusiasm and sales flag very soon after release.

Read more at ZDNet here.