Google Nexus One Phone Likely to Launch Jan. 5

Google’s much-anticipated new phone, the HTC-designed Nexus One, could make its debut next week.

Google has scheduled a press event for Tuesday, January 5 at its Mountain View, California, headquarters. Though the company hasn’t mentioned Nexus One, the invitation mentions Android, Google’s mobile operating system for phones, and the company is widely expected to show the device that has had smartphone industry watchers buzzing for weeks.

The invitation-only event will be held two days before the Consumer Electronics Show begins in Las Vegas and just one day before many CES exhibitors have scheduled major press conferences.

It’s a move straight out of the Apple playbook. In January, 2007, Apple famously upstaged CES when it unveiled the first iPhone at an event in San Francisco — even as most technology journalists and executives were huddled in Las Vegas for the trade show.