The widely anticipated Google smartphone, Nexus One, was officially unveiled on Tuesday, January 5th and is now being offered via the company’s Web site (unlocked, $529).  The announcement was made from company headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Nexus One was developed by HTC and runs Google’s Android 2.1 operating system. Rumors of an announcement leaked online when the company handed the phone out to employees as a holiday bonus three weeks ago.

By now, most of our readers have heard this news.  It is worth mentioning here, however, as we take to the CES show floor to examine the latest gadgetry, including a slew of wireless Internet devices.

Google hopes its self-proclaimed “superphone” with speech recognition can take on Apple’s iPhone over time and help expand Google’s reach from the PC to the mobile world (while helping to protect the company’s dominance in online advertising).

With favorable reviews, some may see Nexus One as a viable alternative to the Motorola Droid – or even an eventual competitor to current faves such as the iPhone and Blackberry.  But others feel that the Nexus One is not the game-changer many anticipated (especially at such traditional pricing).  How will it – and future Google devices – compete with those from experienced players in the smartphone field such as Palm and Nokia?

Perhaps the bigger issue is whether or not the new phone will help provide consistency for the Android system and get partners on a single platform for application development (Google’s Android software is now available on more than 20 phones, including models from Samsung and Motorola).

Only time will tell … but in the meanwhile we’ll be checking for reactions to Google’s news at CES.

The Nexus One can be purchased for $179 with a two-year wireless contract with T-Mobile and by spring it will be available at a discounted price with a Verizon contract.  (While Apple’s iPhone is limited to AT&T’s network, Google is touting its smartphone as not limited to any one service provider.)