8 ms·

What Will Google Learn From the Nexus 4 Selling Out?

34 points by rainmaker23 14y ago

jph 14y ago
Google's smart about this: the Nexus 4 proves that a solid, capable, up to date Android phone sells well; this shows the way for all the Android ecosystem partners.
- nilsbunger 14y ago
  The device has basically no profit for google, so it doesn't show a way forward for any device manufacturers. In fact, it probably scares companies like Samsung if google starts making a real dent in the market with 0-margin phones.
  - enjo 14y ago
    The device has basically no profit for google Citation? Not trying to be flippant, but I'm not sure how we know that?
    - mdasen 14y ago
      I'm not the OP, but: I don't think we know that. Companies like to play with their cards close to their chest. Similarly, we'll likely never get a cost breakdown on Google Fiber - something that would be immensely useful in conversations about the viability of gigabit fiber. But I digress. I think there are good reasons to think that there might be little to no profit. High-end phones usually have around a $200 parts cost. Then it costs money to assemble it, transport it from Asia, transport it to a user's doorstep or store, package it, write the drivers for it, test it, design it, license the IP for everything from GSM to ActiveSync and H.264. You need to build in a cushion to handle returns that you then can't sell as new, a cushion to handle warranty repair, a cushion to handle tech support. Heck, Forrester Research estimates that a call to tech support costs them $33. Whether these costs are being paid by Google or LG isn't really important, just that they exist as costs. It's somewhat hard to see the Nexus 4 doing better than scraping by. Now, Google might be counting on selling these to lower-cost customers via a low-cost chain. Maybe they're direct shipping from Asia and keeping very few on hand and assuming that the techies they sell to will make few tech requests and the only warrantee service they'll need to provide will be when something is actually truly wrong. I guess it's hard for us to see the profit there. You're right that there's nothing we can cite. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see whether Google keeps this up for many years. Right now, Samsung's GS3 international seems to go for $550. There doesn't seem much compelling about it over the Nexus 4. The HTC One X seems in the same range. Google has been known to underestimate costs like tech support (and simply offer poor support). I think it's possible that Google is underestimating some of the costs here. Google also is looking to push an agenda. That's wonderful for us as consumers. Anytime a company is looking to push something other than their profits is an opportunity for us to get a good deal - like when a company would rather be popular than profitable. Really, I think what we're really talking about is LG's profit on the Nexus 4 - I don't think it's Google's profit that we're debating, but I have no citation for that either. Google's agenda is to get as many people as possible with smartphones that they can make money off of via search and other things. I wish I could find it, but there was someone from the Android team who had said that Google was trying to prove that a high-end phone could be sold at this price point. The Android team member also noted that people at Motorola disagreed. Ultimately, here people can have a positive disagreement (one where we disagree because we lack the data that would end the disagreement). Still, the smartphone market has been decently competitive in the Android arena and we've seen many high-end devices being sold nowhere near that price point. In fact, Samsung, HTC, and even LG itself are selling the devices at much higher prices. Heck, T-Mobile is selling the Nexus 4 for more than $500 off-contract. Did LG offer Google a certain number of Nexus 4s on the cheap so Google could prove it's point in exchange for being able to leverage the Nexus brand outside of Google Play at higher prices? I'd love to think that Google is making a ton of profit on these devices. It would mean that I'd get cool toys much cheaper in the future. Given that Samsung, HTC, and even LG itself can't seem to match that price (or even within $150 of that price), it casts doubt. We'll see over the coming months and maybe Google will be more open. In the meantime, we lack good data and that saddens me because I like data.
      - nilsbunger 14y ago
        Awesome answer. It looks like ubm and isuppli haven't done teardowns yet, but hopefully they will soon.
      - raveli 14y ago
        Great answer. Another important point is that - just like with gaming consoles - the money is not just in the hardware unit but in the app market. This gives Google yet another advantage when compared to other Android phone providers. But I would go as far as saying that Google has had (and will have) only a limited stock on Nexus 4 just to make sure it isn't stepping on the toes of other manufacturers in the Android ecosystem. They've made their point with Nexus 4 to make iPhone 5 look over-priced and lacking in many features (articles claiming innovation is happening elsewhere have been appearing all the time now). They've also stolen at least some of the thunder of Nokia's new Lumia 920, which has been selling surprisingly well if the first reports are correct. So, what it seems to me is that Google has done a brilliant move: launch a product everyone is talking about instead of iPhone 5 and the Windows phones but keep the stocks small enough so that it won't really cannibalize its partners' market.
      - sami36 14y ago
        you're making a whole lot of assumptions there. I'm not sure all of them pass the test of reality. 1- How about the Nexus 7. it sells for 200 $, built by another vendor. There are no carriers in that equation, is it also being sold at a loss or near break-even ? 2- How big of a margin do you need before you deem a business profitable. AAPL has margins in the 40~45%, I don't know about Samsung but the've just released quarterly results indicating record profits. if a business operates at 7% profit margins, would you describe them as pursuing a loss leader strategy ? countless public companies are doing just fine with those margins. What if it's just high time in this stabilizing/ somewhat mature business for the very fat operating margins to come down. 3- the 649 $ price point makes it impossible to have competition because nobody (or very few) would pay that for a handset, thus the carrier/ subsidy model longevity. WHAT IF that 299/349 $ price is just the sweet spot that is needed to unleash true competition between devices without the interference of carriers & Google were simply blindsided by the success of the Nexus 4. 4-How about the fact that the Nexus devices come without skinning. don't underestimate the cost that goes into that exercise (however misguided, in my opinion.) It also indirectly lowers the cost of the device by putting less pressure on choosing (powerful) hardware components sue to the extra-lean nature of the OS.
    - jarcoal 14y ago
      I would also like to see one. I think we know the profit margin is probably slim (low price + small batch), but exact figures would be nice to see.
  - bad_user 14y ago
    I really want Nexus devices, but not because of their price - I want them because the hardware is good, because they come completely unlocked and because I can upgrade the OS as soon as a new version of Android comes out. You "own" a Nexus device in a way that's not possible with other Android devices like Galaxy S or iPhones/iPads. Companies like Samsung are really stupid for not releasing at least one phone model under their own brand with characteristics like this. I guess they are afraid their hardware is becoming a commodity, so they need ways to "differentiate", but the way to differentiate is really not through shitty UI skins that makes upgrading the OS challenging to say the least. The Nexus line is basically Google's way of saying "get your shit together".
  - konstruktor 14y ago
    The margin isn't just for profit. Buying potential manufacturing capacity and options for parts is also much easier with a higher retail price.
  - Tichy 14y ago
    LG must be making a profit on it, otherwise why would they do it?
    - camus 14y ago
      because google pay them to.
      - Tichy 14y ago
        That might be a possibility, but how much would Google have to pay them for making a phone that outclasses all their other phones in price/performance? Google would have to pay as much as the whole mobile earnings of LG? And destroying the business of the other makers would seem like a bad move, too. I think it must be possible to build such phones for that price, otherwise Google would only pay to destroy it's own ecosystem.
  - eklitzke 14y ago
    Sure; if consumers start buying lots of Nexus phones, presumably they're doing so in lieu of buying the flavor-of-the-month phones from Samsung, HTC, Sony, LG, etc. And that's an incentive for those manufacturers to rethink their phone strategy, and figure out how to improve their lineup to cater to the type of people who purchase Nexus handsets.
snogglethorpe 14y ago
there was a nexus 4 debacle? [EDIT: the HN headline has now been changed, so my comment seems a bit odd now, but the article headline, and the original HN headline, is/was "What Will Google Learn From the Nexus 4 Debacle?"]
- thematt 14y ago
  Did you try to buy one?
  - 3825 14y ago
    I would love to buy one. To be honest, I was skeptical but I think I have become more resolved in getting a nexus 4 now that it is out of stock.
  - snogglethorpe 14y ago
    Naw, the nexus 4 is way too big for my tastes. Still, lots of people were talking about it very approvingly and all it seemed to get was good press... I never got any sense of a "debacle". Apple Maps, now there's a debacle... :]
    - peeters 14y ago
      I would very much call their handling of its initial release a debacle...but one of those problems that every company would love to have. My experience: got on the notification list for the phone and started counting down the days. Go on at 00:01 GMT the day it's to be released; it's not for sale. Go on at 00:01 EST the day it's to be released; it's not for sale. Check again in the morning; nothing. I check at 11:35 EST (apparently 5 minutes after it arbitrarily goes on sale) and try for 20 solid minutes to buy one. Problem after problem after problem with the Play store (it pretty much fell over). When I finally get through, I notice my order has silently had the device removed from my cart, and realize it's sold out. I give up. 6 hours later I find out that people had randomly been getting success throughout the entire day, just by dumb luck. But now it's really really sold out. No communication from Google as to what was happening (still hasn't been any official word). Now I can't even count down the weeks, because honestly nobody has a clue when more inventory is coming. So yeah, just a monumental case of "let's shit on our customers because we have too many of them." I don't find this fun Google. Just let me order the damn thing and ship it to me when you've got it.
georgehaake 14y ago
Nice hardware. So is my Galaxy Nexus. I am pretty darn attached to that phone.
- trimbo 14y ago
  Me too. I'm seriously considering the Nexus 4 but I'm not sure I want to give up the awesome saturation of AMOLED on my GN.
michaelnovati 14y ago
limiting supply to cause extra hype? that it works! except nintendo's been doing it for years
- whatusername 14y ago
  Only in the US. In Australia and the rest of the world -- after the first month or 2 you could go and buy a dozen wii's in any store.
lazydon 14y ago
Anybody aware when will nexus 4 be available again for purchase? All I saw last was an official Google+ update that mentioned 3-4 weeks. (yes, whatever Google tried to do with limited stocks in first batch worked on me)
mememememememe 14y ago
Nexus 4 is like Rapsberry PI in this situation, except Google can manage the backlog better.
romnempire 14y ago
uh, cheap thing sell good?
mark_integerdsv 14y ago
Full disclosure: I'm not really that interested in stuff like this so I've not even dug around looking for this but what is the number of phones that sold out? It just feels like shoddy journalism and more sensationalist nonsense in the Apple/Android fiasco. So, how many units? Seriously: they could have sold 10 of these things thus far and everything I have bothered to read on the topic would still be technically correct. The fact that they are not making money on Android is cold comfort for those of us who bought into the promise of free ad supported hardware and calls that was the initial vision for Android. Instead of that massively disruptive brave new future we have a slew of, let's face it: shittyarse phones that look like they came with a Happy Meal and a stupid patent war. Apple are no angels here but Google: you lied. Make good on that promise or shut up. Oh, and thanks for partnering with providers and screwing us on Net Neutrality in the process too...
- orangecat 14y ago
  The fact that they are not making money on Android is cold comfort for those of us who bought into the promise of free ad supported hardware and calls that was the initial vision for Android. When did Google or anyone else ever promise that?
- trimbo 14y ago
  > So, how many units? Well, generally they have 50,000 on hand in December to give to employees. So I'd hope they sold at least that many to the public in the first couple days?
- Cor 14y ago
  Google hasn't stated how many units they have sold, unfortunately. There was a post on XDA developers from a guy claiming to work at the US UPS shipping centers that stated that Google shipped out 17,000 units for the US launch (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=34430979&postcount=21493 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=34430979&...). Whether that figure is accurate or not is anyone's guess.
Daishiman 14y ago
Author evidently does not understand that the Nexus line is and has always been used as a benchmark of the capabilities of Android and as an incentive for hardware partners to keep up with the reference series. If Google actually wanted to make money off hardware at this point they have the economic means to do it. It is evidently no their goal.
- jarcoal 14y ago
  This is definitely a good point that people seem to forget all of the time. That said, can you blame investors/buyers for being upset that Google is showing off such a nice piece of hardware but doing such a bad job of selling it? It certainly seems like a debacle in their eyes.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- sami36 14y ago
  I'm not so sure about that. When they first released the Nexus one, that was certainly their goal. But then it sold poorly & suddenly Google had to reign in their ambition. I think they were totally blindsided by the success of the Nexus4. First, They (along with the tech press) strongly underestimated how little LTE matters to a lot of people (What's the point of incremental speed increase when I'm capped at a ridiculously low number of gigs.) In addition, They totally missed how enthusiastic people would be about a flagship device being sold at the price of a subsidized device that would lock them in a 2 year contract.
  - Daishiman 14y ago
    The product is fantastic. They knew that already and I'm quite sure that their sales projections would have at least contemplated the positive reception. But doing hardware right in mass scale takes time, money, and domain knowledge. Google is not a hardware manufacturer and it's not their core competency. Neither is it handing off specs to manufacturers to make anything other than relatively small production runs (for the scale of the mobile business). Hardware needs support, sales channels, advertising, industry knowledge and logistics, and the possibility of screwing up does not diminish with scale (look at how Apple, even manufacturing one new model at a time, still has had plenty of bugs in iOS and the physical iPhones themselves). Android is already doing fanastically well; it's logical for them to be conservative about this release.
zalew 14y ago
> well, there won't be a Black Friday bump in Nexus 4 sales. The darn thing sold out on Thanksgiving instead. oh noes. is it like the movie industry, where the only thing that matters is the opening day?
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
Tichy 14y ago
A friend of mine is desperately waiting for a 27'' iMac to become available. You can't order those from Apple yet. So Apple is not necessarily doing it smarter than Google. Probably they simply can project when iPhone 5s will be available again, whereas they can't project availability of iMacs, and Google can't project availability of significant numbers of N4s. I suppose it is a fine line to walk: you could of course always accept orders and just queue them indefinitely. But after a certain period of time, people who have ordered and don't get anything might feel even more angry than people who can't order to begin with.
nikster 14y ago
I think Google probably knew its target market - Americans tech savy enough to know about locked/unlocked phones and subsidized/unsubsidized prices. That's not too many people - but to those people the Nexus 4 is incredible value. What I think they didn't anticipate is that there'd be a huge demand world-wide. In other places where phones are sold unsubsidized, coming in with the Nexus4 is like christmas and easter on the same day, unbelievable value, and surely there's a buck to be made selling this phone at a slight markup on those places. The iPhone grey market shows that great numbers will move even if the profit is only $100 per phone.

34 points by rainmaker23 14y ago

jph 14y ago

Google's smart about this: the Nexus 4 proves that a solid, capable, up to date Android phone sells well; this shows the way for all the Android ecosystem partners.

nilsbunger 14y ago
The device has basically no profit for google, so it doesn't show a way forward for any device manufacturers. In fact, it probably scares companies like Samsung if google starts making a real dent in the market with 0-margin phones.
- enjo 14y ago
  The device has basically no profit for google Citation? Not trying to be flippant, but I'm not sure how we know that?
  - mdasen 14y ago
    I'm not the OP, but: I don't think we know that. Companies like to play with their cards close to their chest. Similarly, we'll likely never get a cost breakdown on Google Fiber - something that would be immensely useful in conversations about the viability of gigabit fiber. But I digress. I think there are good reasons to think that there might be little to no profit. High-end phones usually have around a $200 parts cost. Then it costs money to assemble it, transport it from Asia, transport it to a user's doorstep or store, package it, write the drivers for it, test it, design it, license the IP for everything from GSM to ActiveSync and H.264. You need to build in a cushion to handle returns that you then can't sell as new, a cushion to handle warranty repair, a cushion to handle tech support. Heck, Forrester Research estimates that a call to tech support costs them $33. Whether these costs are being paid by Google or LG isn't really important, just that they exist as costs. It's somewhat hard to see the Nexus 4 doing better than scraping by. Now, Google might be counting on selling these to lower-cost customers via a low-cost chain. Maybe they're direct shipping from Asia and keeping very few on hand and assuming that the techies they sell to will make few tech requests and the only warrantee service they'll need to provide will be when something is actually truly wrong. I guess it's hard for us to see the profit there. You're right that there's nothing we can cite. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see whether Google keeps this up for many years. Right now, Samsung's GS3 international seems to go for $550. There doesn't seem much compelling about it over the Nexus 4. The HTC One X seems in the same range. Google has been known to underestimate costs like tech support (and simply offer poor support). I think it's possible that Google is underestimating some of the costs here. Google also is looking to push an agenda. That's wonderful for us as consumers. Anytime a company is looking to push something other than their profits is an opportunity for us to get a good deal - like when a company would rather be popular than profitable. Really, I think what we're really talking about is LG's profit on the Nexus 4 - I don't think it's Google's profit that we're debating, but I have no citation for that either. Google's agenda is to get as many people as possible with smartphones that they can make money off of via search and other things. I wish I could find it, but there was someone from the Android team who had said that Google was trying to prove that a high-end phone could be sold at this price point. The Android team member also noted that people at Motorola disagreed. Ultimately, here people can have a positive disagreement (one where we disagree because we lack the data that would end the disagreement). Still, the smartphone market has been decently competitive in the Android arena and we've seen many high-end devices being sold nowhere near that price point. In fact, Samsung, HTC, and even LG itself are selling the devices at much higher prices. Heck, T-Mobile is selling the Nexus 4 for more than $500 off-contract. Did LG offer Google a certain number of Nexus 4s on the cheap so Google could prove it's point in exchange for being able to leverage the Nexus brand outside of Google Play at higher prices? I'd love to think that Google is making a ton of profit on these devices. It would mean that I'd get cool toys much cheaper in the future. Given that Samsung, HTC, and even LG itself can't seem to match that price (or even within $150 of that price), it casts doubt. We'll see over the coming months and maybe Google will be more open. In the meantime, we lack good data and that saddens me because I like data.
    - nilsbunger 14y ago
      Awesome answer. It looks like ubm and isuppli haven't done teardowns yet, but hopefully they will soon.
    - raveli 14y ago
      Great answer. Another important point is that - just like with gaming consoles - the money is not just in the hardware unit but in the app market. This gives Google yet another advantage when compared to other Android phone providers. But I would go as far as saying that Google has had (and will have) only a limited stock on Nexus 4 just to make sure it isn't stepping on the toes of other manufacturers in the Android ecosystem. They've made their point with Nexus 4 to make iPhone 5 look over-priced and lacking in many features (articles claiming innovation is happening elsewhere have been appearing all the time now). They've also stolen at least some of the thunder of Nokia's new Lumia 920, which has been selling surprisingly well if the first reports are correct. So, what it seems to me is that Google has done a brilliant move: launch a product everyone is talking about instead of iPhone 5 and the Windows phones but keep the stocks small enough so that it won't really cannibalize its partners' market.
    - sami36 14y ago
      you're making a whole lot of assumptions there. I'm not sure all of them pass the test of reality. 1- How about the Nexus 7. it sells for 200 $, built by another vendor. There are no carriers in that equation, is it also being sold at a loss or near break-even ? 2- How big of a margin do you need before you deem a business profitable. AAPL has margins in the 40~45%, I don't know about Samsung but the've just released quarterly results indicating record profits. if a business operates at 7% profit margins, would you describe them as pursuing a loss leader strategy ? countless public companies are doing just fine with those margins. What if it's just high time in this stabilizing/ somewhat mature business for the very fat operating margins to come down. 3- the 649 $ price point makes it impossible to have competition because nobody (or very few) would pay that for a handset, thus the carrier/ subsidy model longevity. WHAT IF that 299/349 $ price is just the sweet spot that is needed to unleash true competition between devices without the interference of carriers & Google were simply blindsided by the success of the Nexus 4. 4-How about the fact that the Nexus devices come without skinning. don't underestimate the cost that goes into that exercise (however misguided, in my opinion.) It also indirectly lowers the cost of the device by putting less pressure on choosing (powerful) hardware components sue to the extra-lean nature of the OS.
  - jarcoal 14y ago
    I would also like to see one. I think we know the profit margin is probably slim (low price + small batch), but exact figures would be nice to see.
- bad_user 14y ago
  I really want Nexus devices, but not because of their price - I want them because the hardware is good, because they come completely unlocked and because I can upgrade the OS as soon as a new version of Android comes out. You "own" a Nexus device in a way that's not possible with other Android devices like Galaxy S or iPhones/iPads. Companies like Samsung are really stupid for not releasing at least one phone model under their own brand with characteristics like this. I guess they are afraid their hardware is becoming a commodity, so they need ways to "differentiate", but the way to differentiate is really not through shitty UI skins that makes upgrading the OS challenging to say the least. The Nexus line is basically Google's way of saying "get your shit together".
- konstruktor 14y ago
  The margin isn't just for profit. Buying potential manufacturing capacity and options for parts is also much easier with a higher retail price.
- Tichy 14y ago
  LG must be making a profit on it, otherwise why would they do it?
  - camus 14y ago
    because google pay them to.
    - Tichy 14y ago
      That might be a possibility, but how much would Google have to pay them for making a phone that outclasses all their other phones in price/performance? Google would have to pay as much as the whole mobile earnings of LG? And destroying the business of the other makers would seem like a bad move, too. I think it must be possible to build such phones for that price, otherwise Google would only pay to destroy it's own ecosystem.
- eklitzke 14y ago
  Sure; if consumers start buying lots of Nexus phones, presumably they're doing so in lieu of buying the flavor-of-the-month phones from Samsung, HTC, Sony, LG, etc. And that's an incentive for those manufacturers to rethink their phone strategy, and figure out how to improve their lineup to cater to the type of people who purchase Nexus handsets.

snogglethorpe 14y ago

there was a nexus 4 debacle? [EDIT: the HN headline has now been changed, so my comment seems a bit odd now, but the article headline, and the original HN headline, is/was "What Will Google Learn From the Nexus 4 Debacle?"]

thematt 14y ago
Did you try to buy one?
- 3825 14y ago
  I would love to buy one. To be honest, I was skeptical but I think I have become more resolved in getting a nexus 4 now that it is out of stock.
- snogglethorpe 14y ago
  Naw, the nexus 4 is way too big for my tastes. Still, lots of people were talking about it very approvingly and all it seemed to get was good press... I never got any sense of a "debacle". Apple Maps, now there's a debacle... :]
  - peeters 14y ago
    I would very much call their handling of its initial release a debacle...but one of those problems that every company would love to have. My experience: got on the notification list for the phone and started counting down the days. Go on at 00:01 GMT the day it's to be released; it's not for sale. Go on at 00:01 EST the day it's to be released; it's not for sale. Check again in the morning; nothing. I check at 11:35 EST (apparently 5 minutes after it arbitrarily goes on sale) and try for 20 solid minutes to buy one. Problem after problem after problem with the Play store (it pretty much fell over). When I finally get through, I notice my order has silently had the device removed from my cart, and realize it's sold out. I give up. 6 hours later I find out that people had randomly been getting success throughout the entire day, just by dumb luck. But now it's really really sold out. No communication from Google as to what was happening (still hasn't been any official word). Now I can't even count down the weeks, because honestly nobody has a clue when more inventory is coming. So yeah, just a monumental case of "let's shit on our customers because we have too many of them." I don't find this fun Google. Just let me order the damn thing and ship it to me when you've got it.

georgehaake 14y ago

Nice hardware. So is my Galaxy Nexus. I am pretty darn attached to that phone.

trimbo 14y ago
Me too. I'm seriously considering the Nexus 4 but I'm not sure I want to give up the awesome saturation of AMOLED on my GN.

michaelnovati 14y ago

limiting supply to cause extra hype? that it works! except nintendo's been doing it for years

whatusername 14y ago
Only in the US. In Australia and the rest of the world -- after the first month or 2 you could go and buy a dozen wii's in any store.

lazydon 14y ago

Anybody aware when will nexus 4 be available again for purchase? All I saw last was an official Google+ update that mentioned 3-4 weeks. (yes, whatever Google tried to do with limited stocks in first batch worked on me)

mememememememe 14y ago

Nexus 4 is like Rapsberry PI in this situation, except Google can manage the backlog better.

romnempire 14y ago

uh, cheap thing sell good?

mark_integerdsv 14y ago

Full disclosure: I'm not really that interested in stuff like this so I've not even dug around looking for this but what is the number of phones that sold out? It just feels like shoddy journalism and more sensationalist nonsense in the Apple/Android fiasco. So, how many units? Seriously: they could have sold 10 of these things thus far and everything I have bothered to read on the topic would still be technically correct. The fact that they are not making money on Android is cold comfort for those of us who bought into the promise of free ad supported hardware and calls that was the initial vision for Android. Instead of that massively disruptive brave new future we have a slew of, let's face it: shittyarse phones that look like they came with a Happy Meal and a stupid patent war. Apple are no angels here but Google: you lied. Make good on that promise or shut up. Oh, and thanks for partnering with providers and screwing us on Net Neutrality in the process too...

orangecat 14y ago
The fact that they are not making money on Android is cold comfort for those of us who bought into the promise of free ad supported hardware and calls that was the initial vision for Android. When did Google or anyone else ever promise that?
trimbo 14y ago
> So, how many units? Well, generally they have 50,000 on hand in December to give to employees. So I'd hope they sold at least that many to the public in the first couple days?
Cor 14y ago
Google hasn't stated how many units they have sold, unfortunately. There was a post on XDA developers from a guy claiming to work at the US UPS shipping centers that stated that Google shipped out 17,000 units for the US launch (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=34430979&postcount=21493 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=34430979&...). Whether that figure is accurate or not is anyone's guess.

Daishiman 14y ago

Author evidently does not understand that the Nexus line is and has always been used as a benchmark of the capabilities of Android and as an incentive for hardware partners to keep up with the reference series. If Google actually wanted to make money off hardware at this point they have the economic means to do it. It is evidently no their goal.

jarcoal 14y ago
This is definitely a good point that people seem to forget all of the time. That said, can you blame investors/buyers for being upset that Google is showing off such a nice piece of hardware but doing such a bad job of selling it? It certainly seems like a debacle in their eyes.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
sami36 14y ago
I'm not so sure about that. When they first released the Nexus one, that was certainly their goal. But then it sold poorly & suddenly Google had to reign in their ambition. I think they were totally blindsided by the success of the Nexus4. First, They (along with the tech press) strongly underestimated how little LTE matters to a lot of people (What's the point of incremental speed increase when I'm capped at a ridiculously low number of gigs.) In addition, They totally missed how enthusiastic people would be about a flagship device being sold at the price of a subsidized device that would lock them in a 2 year contract.
- Daishiman 14y ago
  The product is fantastic. They knew that already and I'm quite sure that their sales projections would have at least contemplated the positive reception. But doing hardware right in mass scale takes time, money, and domain knowledge. Google is not a hardware manufacturer and it's not their core competency. Neither is it handing off specs to manufacturers to make anything other than relatively small production runs (for the scale of the mobile business). Hardware needs support, sales channels, advertising, industry knowledge and logistics, and the possibility of screwing up does not diminish with scale (look at how Apple, even manufacturing one new model at a time, still has had plenty of bugs in iOS and the physical iPhones themselves). Android is already doing fanastically well; it's logical for them to be conservative about this release.

zalew 14y ago

> well, there won't be a Black Friday bump in Nexus 4 sales. The darn thing sold out on Thanksgiving instead. oh noes. is it like the movie industry, where the only thing that matters is the opening day?

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

Tichy 14y ago

A friend of mine is desperately waiting for a 27'' iMac to become available. You can't order those from Apple yet. So Apple is not necessarily doing it smarter than Google. Probably they simply can project when iPhone 5s will be available again, whereas they can't project availability of iMacs, and Google can't project availability of significant numbers of N4s. I suppose it is a fine line to walk: you could of course always accept orders and just queue them indefinitely. But after a certain period of time, people who have ordered and don't get anything might feel even more angry than people who can't order to begin with.

nikster 14y ago

I think Google probably knew its target market - Americans tech savy enough to know about locked/unlocked phones and subsidized/unsubsidized prices. That's not too many people - but to those people the Nexus 4 is incredible value. What I think they didn't anticipate is that there'd be a huge demand world-wide. In other places where phones are sold unsubsidized, coming in with the Nexus4 is like christmas and easter on the same day, unbelievable value, and surely there's a buck to be made selling this phone at a slight markup on those places. The iPhone grey market shows that great numbers will move even if the profit is only $100 per phone.