Really Google?
Google’s Nexus 4 smartphone went on sale yesterday, but the launch did not go smoothly by any stretch of the imagination.
In Australia, the phone went out of stock in half an hour and European consumers did not have much luck either. Google is already confirming that it sold out the launch stock in several countries. In Britain, the stock lasted less than an hour. Germany did not fare any better. US consumers also looted the Play Store, reporting many technical issues in the process.
So yes, there is plenty of demand for the competitively priced Nexus, but we are still baffled by the sheer speed at which it went out of stock. This is not an indication of strong demand, but rather of a botched launch. We still don’t know how many devices Google managed to stock up ahead of launch, but we can’t say we are surprised. Google has proven time and again that it does not know how to launch phones, and it does not seem to be learning from its mistakes.
If Google based its sales projections on initial Galaxy Nexus or Nexus S sales, then the Nexus 4 looks like a runaway success, but at this point nobody knows how many phones Google had in stock to begin with. Some punters (optimistically) believe Google managed to sell as many as half a million devices, but frankly all we can do is make an educated guess.
I think they stocked 76 phones worldwide. What’s your best guess?
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