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Nexus 4 sale going to be hectic for Christmas

With the holiday season almost upon us this was always going to be a busy time for smartphones but one in particular is amassing a huge amount of attention right now. The LG Nexus 4 phone is the latest Google Nexus phone and released only two days ago running the latest Android operating system, 4.2 Jelly Bean. This was a huge draw and sadly stocks of the Nexus 4 were sold out extremely quickly. It appears that Nexus 4 sales will be hectic for Christmas so let’s hope that Google gets plenty more supplies very soon.

On the day of the LG Nexus 4 release we spoke about how the Nexus 4 phone and also the Nexus 10 tablet were receiving an OTA update offering some extras. Even though this was very soon after the Nexus 4 went on sale through the Google Play Store we had comments from readers saying they were having trouble ordering it, with either the site crashing or being told the device was already sold out.

Further to this we posted an article explaining that both the 8GB and 16GB Nexus 4 were already sold out through Google Play only hours after the release and this made us wonder how many of the devices had actually been in stock ready for sale. Many of our readers commented on this and some were frustrated and disappointed by the numbers that Google actually had for sale. Of course it’s difficult to ascertain whether the shortages of the device were actually due to not enough being produced whilst erring on the side of caution, or whether the manufacturer and Google thought that they had plenty of stock but demand was so unprecedented that it soon turned out it had been wildly underestimated.

Looking at the Google Play Store today it’s no more promising. Again the product page for both the 8GB version and also 16GB version still show the LG Nexus 4 as sold out with a message saying “We are out of inventory. Please check back soon.” There’s no option to purchase with an estimated time of delivery, as you just have to keep checking for when it becomes available again. We’ve checked the UK store but this seems to be the case in many other regions too and so far there’s no indication at all of when Google expects the phone to be back in stock.

If you’re in the U.S there is an alternative as the Google Play Store was selling the Nexus 4 unlocked but the phone is now also being sold through T-Mobile on contract as we detailed here. T-Mobile USA is also selling an unlocked Nexus 4 but at a much higher price than through Google Play.

We would certainly imagine that at this very moment production of the Nexus 4 has been stepped up to the maximum but even if Google gets more stock in shortly it seems likely that it will quickly sell out again. One thing that Google really needs to get on top of though is concentrating on enough supplies of the Nexus 4 to cover the major Christmas rush as if stocks of the Nexus 4 continue to be scarce then there are likely to be a lot of disappointed consumers out there. It would be a shame if the fact the unlocked Nexus 4 is so reasonable priced through Google Play (at only £239/$299 for the 8GB model or £279/$349 for the 16GB), leads to criticism about its non-availability though.

We’d like to hear from readers about the Nexus 4 and the lack of stock. Did you manage to get yours straightaway or are you one of the many who have yet to make your purchase? Does the lack of any availability date frustrate you? Send your comments to let us know.

Comments

33 thoughts on “Nexus 4 sale going to be hectic for Christmas”

  1. KaPOWitsCHRIS says:

    I got the email saying it was on sale at 8:36AM UK time and I didn’t get on until an hour after around 9:37AM. Although apparently it went on sale at about 8:15AM. You’d expect they’d have enough stock for 2 hours at least right? Apple sell in the millions and can do it, so why can’t Google?

    1. zyobe says:

      I got my email at the same time but I was already able to add to my cart about 8:15. The screen had my card details & address, asked if I wanted to have the phone automatically synced to my google account, etc. It told me it would take 2 days to receive only to then get an error & it tell me my basket was empty – not happy.

      1. hahah same thing happened me !!!!

        I wanted 1 x 8 Gb and 1 x 16 Gb, all the 16Gb were sold out, so I put the 8 in my basket and then I got an basket error too when I went to checkout, and when I tried to reorder it was gone !!!!

        As long as they have plenty back in for christmas !!! 🙂

  2. Mark Hardy says:

    It’s a quite annoying I’m sure they already knew they would run out of stock at that price, I’m still hopeful I’ll get one before christmas, Pssst google If youde like to throw one my way I wont argue .

  3. vijju says:

    it is an absolute shame for google to mess up the sale.
    With the sale starting before theirown announced time, and the
    servers crashing, one gets the doubt that is the phone really upto specs?
    Bcos of their bad planning in sales, one gets this doubt.
    Damn with google and their phone.

  4. rebelbah says:

    Devices on Google Play Terms of Sale

    Resale and Gifts

    You may not commercially resell any Device, but you may give the Device as a gift.
    Recipients of gifts may need to open and maintain a Google Wallet account in order to
    receive support from Google. These Terms shall also apply to any gift recipient.”

    so why are there over 250 listings on ebay
    poor planing on googles part not to have more devices

    the other ting google needs to go to ebay and have them all removed from sale and stick the ebay calpters with the phones

    1. teh says:

      This has peeved me off to no end, some people ordering 30+ devices at a time are now on ebay. Selfish, greedy people out there. No doubt google will now up the price to £400.

    1. squallidolizer says:

      If you really want Nexus 4 then you can wait a little bit more. If you are ready to choose an alternative so soon then it means you did not want the device enough.

  5. captain_planet says:

    I have a feeling this was done on purpose, they announced it
    a while ago and I went into my Orange and Carphone Warehouse asking about it,
    Orange (sorry EE) said they won’t stock it (after promising I’d be able to
    upgrade early to 4G at a massive discount and get a new 4G phone), Carphone
    didn’t know what it was, they looked on the system and it said £400 but had
    been removed from sale!

    Operators and retailers have clearly complained when the phone
    was announced and Google has proobaly said they already have pulicised the release
    date so need to stick to it, but will only sell a limited number and wait a
    couple of weeks before putting it back on to give retailers/networks a chance
    to sell it.

    Saying the play store couldn’t cope with the traffic is
    nonsense, Google run the busiest website in the world, I’m sure they know how
    to cope with traffic. Them underestimating the demand is unlikely, they run the
    most popular mobile operating system and have close ties with manufacturers
    plus they were collecting email addresses from interested people.

    1. JOIECEXEN says:

      I’m guessing you didn’t try to buy the phone on the 13th? Whats nonsense is the fact that the Play Store was acting up and couldn’t cope with the traffic. <That's not heresay I was on the play store at release and it was horrible.

  6. Eddy19891991 says:

    I got mine first time of trying to order at 8:39, finished the whole process at 8:44 and it is being delivered today 🙂 I had no troubles, now I have sold it for £320 and will get the 16GB plus £30 in the back pocket for the price of a 8GB model 🙂

  7. desccc says:

    I was pretty peeved as well, especially after having had the
    16gb version in my basket more than once. I got mine yesterday from 02 on
    PrePay. The phone is unlocked (I’m on orange) it is 16gb– it cost less than
    what the 8gb versions are going for on Ebay. I’ve had to swallow £110 (as on Google Pay the
    cost was £279 + £10 pp). But it is worth it –no doubt there will be carnage
    again when the phone is back on sale – for Xmas!!

      1. desccc says:

        Just as well I didn’t part with that much cash – just traded in my Nokia Lumia 800 for the difference 🙂 Only had to pay £30 above what I would have done had a managed to secure it from Google.

          1. desccc says:

            Not at all – the phone would have just been gathering dust in the bottom of my draw – not being used. I traded it for £80

          2. gazwkduk says:

            Daft way of looking at it, you still paid over the odds for it because you couldn’t wait a little longer.
            £110 could have gone some way towards something else such as a Nexus 7 or even a damn good night out.

  8. ivan says:

    I think that it might just be googles marketing tactics. I mean this happened with the nexus 7 when it launched, but two weeks later when they restocked they didn’t run out. Having it sell out in less than an hour is a publicity stunt. It gets headlines and stirs up anticipation for the device. Give it a fortnight, there will be stock, and plenty of it. I mean they couldn’t have not anticipated the demand, after what happened with the nexus 7 and all of the “notify me” email alerts they were going to sell.

  9. Tracy1326 says:

    I was on the “Notify Me” when available list on the Google Play Store and was eagerly waiting to replace my phone on the 13th but didn’t know the time of release, thinking Google would “Notify Me”. Never got the notification and checked at 11:30 and 2:00, too early and too late. I’ve been waiting for this phone for two weeks and am very frustrated it sold out. If it was purposefully underproduced – bad move, it this phone isn’t available soon, I’m going to have to start looking at other options.

  10. dump_trap says:

    I had placed my mail id on site so that google would notify when it is on sale, but poor salesmanship by google, that it didnot send me a mail.

    I was sitting by computer, refreshing page every few seconds so that I can order as soon as it is on sale. I knew that site would be flooded with buyers due to low price. But unfortunately, i went to take a dump, and it was sold out by the time i returned.

  11. nic says:

    Why didn’t Google just take pre-orders and then they would have known exactly how many units to produce and ship on November 13. Selling out in less than an hour is ludicrous.

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