Nexus tablet to be sold to consumers directly from Google

We all know that Google is working on a tablet of its own. We also know that it will likely debut within the next two or three months, possibly be cheaper than the Amazon Kindle Fire, and likely made by Asus. However, what we haven’t heard before today is that it looks like Google just may reboot the original Nexus strategy and sell the tablet directly to consumers.
The Nexus One suffered from low sales numbers for a handful of reasons. Google hadn’t provided proper support for the device and since it was only sold online, you couldn’t try the device before you bought it. On top of that, advertisement for the Nexus One was limited to online ads only. After the fizzle of the first Nexus handset, which really was a good phone, Google partnered up with Best Buy for the second generation handset. This handset turned out to be the Nexus S and saw better sales than its predecessor, especially when the Sprint version, the Nexus S 4G arrived on the scene.
The strategy behind the Galaxy Nexus is similar to that of the Nexus S 4G. Google partnered with Verizon to carry the device, which just makes a lot of sense. But what about a tablet? It would make sense for Google to offer the device directly, as long as a potential customer has a place to go to see the tablet in person first. Details are scarce as to whether Google will allow for this to happen but only time will tell.
The idea of a Nexus tablet sounds pretty nice if you ask us but if Google does exactly what it had done with the Nexus One and offers it online only, without a chance to try the device out first, it may have trouble finding as many homes as it potentially could. That said, if the Nexus tablet indeed is priced at $149, it may be easier to swallow if you’ve never touched it before.
What are your thoughts on this? If provided the proper customer support and priced competitively, would you consider purchasing the Nexus tablet if you can’t try it before you buy it?