It's easier for Apple to sell tablets online because it has a network of stores where people can handle the devices before they buy them, he said. It may be more challenging for Google, unless the exact same products that it sells online are also available at retail.

Google apparently was not put off by its first foray into online hardware sales, the Journal noted. Google started selling its own Android smartphone, the Nexus One, in 2010, but it closed the online store six months later because it wasn't successful. After the phone went on sale, Google initially to deal with support requests.

"[I]t's clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone," it .