Google has announced an Android related press conference for January 5, the same day that earlier reports indicated would see the launch of the Google Phone.

Invitations were sent to various members of the media Tuesday promoting the event at Google's headquarters, to be held just as the annual CES gadget fest gets under way in Las Vegas. Expectations are high that Google will use the occasion to announce the launch of the Nexus One phone as its first phone sold directly to consumers.

It also seems Google is finally ready to address the questions that have risen about its Android strategy following reports that it planned to sell this particular phone directly to consumers through its Web site. Google has invested a lot of time and money during 2009 promoting the Android phones of its partners--namely Motorola and Verizon--and could be about to complicate the work of those partners with its own device.

c|net