Yesterday, when we got to see Google’s new online Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 retail search tools, we noted how limited the Nexus 4 version seemed, since there still wasn’t anywhere you could buy the phone for the cheap off-contract pricing offered through Google Play directly. That may not be the case for very much longer, as a new rumor suggests that Google could follow the direction of Apple and Microsoft and introduce its own brick-and-mortar stores sometime later this year.

While Google has already experimented with exclusive zones within existing retail stores, it reportedly is interested in getting some larger spaces to itself. The stimulus for this decision may be the forthcoming arrival of Project Glass, a product so unlike anything we’re used to that sales could heavily depend on the ability for the shopping public to try it out in person first.

Supposedly, the first of these stores could arrive in major cities in time for the holiday shopping season, and would feature the same sort of hardware you can already buy online through Google Play.

Source: 9to5 Google
Via: BGR